Stars In His Eyes
by mayanscaper
Summary: Collaborative fiction written with Kazbaby. Winner of a Sparky award. Sequel to Through The Rabbit Hole. How John copes with the repercussions. Takes place in Season 4 on Arnessk. AU


1Stars In His Eyes

by ixchup

Disclaimer: Farscape is the property of the Jim Henson Company, created by Rockne O'Bannon, nursed and nourished by David Kemper as well as the actors and production company and held hostage by Sci Fi Channel. We are simply playing with the characters and will put them back with no harm done when we are finished.

Part 1

He felt the soft rumble of his stomach even in his sleep. Opening his eyes, he looked over at Aeryn's sleeping form in the bed next to him. John tried not to wake her as he climbed softly out the bed. They had been through a lot lately and she needed all the rest that she could get.

Putting his feet on the cold floor, he let out an involuntary hiss before grabbing the socks that sat on top his boots next to their bed. Spotting his clothes in the faint light of the room, he quickly dressed and made his way towards the center chamber where he knew there was left over Milvo bread and cream sitting in the refrigeration unit waiting for him. His stomach growled a little louder as he neared the room. A glance around showed that he was the only one up with the midnight munchies.

His feet whispered as they slid across the floor, stopping as he opened the fridge. John began moving around the different food items on the shelf and let out a soft curse when he saw that his Milvo bread wasn't where it was suppose to be, "Damn-it, Chiana, I told you that was mine."

A familiar soft crackling noise caught his attention. He ignored it for a moment until it became even louder, "What is that?" He thought as he stood up straight and slowly turned around.

He recognized it immediately as the creature he had met in the dimensional tear from over a cycle before. There was something about the critter that was eluding him. It felt as if he may have seen it one other place, but at the moment he couldn't recall where. He stood and stared at it while the creature reached half way out of the hole it had created in the middle of the room. Its tentacles grasped onto the edge of the table as it propelled itself further into the room. "I am not finished with you. I still have many more questions about wormholes," it rumbled with its protuberances pulsing in time with its words. Screaming, John fell back against the wall and reached down to his side for Winona. He yelled, "Damnit!" She wasn't on his side. He then remembered she and his comms were sitting on the table next to the bed. Watching the creature carefully, he began to make his way towards the door.

Reaching one of its tentacles out, the creature swiped at his legs, knocking him backwards onto the floor and causing him to hit his head against a corner of the table. He lay on the floor, his limbs twitching as he shivered and backed himself into a corner.

There was something not right. She opened her eyes; reaching out her hand she immediately knew what it was-John wasn't in bed with her. Thinking he had gone to the refresher for a moment, she turned over and pulled the blanket close around her shoulder.

"Officer Sun, you must wake up." Pilot's urgent voice roused her sleepy attention as she started to wonder what was taking John so long to relieve himself.

"Yes Pilot?" Came her immediate response.

"There is something wrong with the Commander. He is in the center chamber at this moment and appears to be very agitated. A moment ago he screamed."

Before he had even finished speaking, Aeryn was out of the bed and running out of the room towards the center chamber.

She heard him whimper in fear before she entered the room, looking around quickly she found him on the floor in the corner reaching out and swatting something with his arms. She groaned, fearing that he had regressed again back to where he was two monens ago after that awful accident that so frelled up their already messed up lives. Even in the dim light of the room, she could make out the steady shake of his hands and soft jerk of the muscles in his thighs. The trail of blood flowing down the side of his face caught her attention, causing her breath to catch in her throat.

Going down onto her knees beside him, she whispered his name, "John," touching his face, she was shocked to have him jerk back from her hand as if trying to get away from her as he screamed once more in fear. She realized he didn't know she was there at the moment.

"John!" Putting force behind her words, she wrapped her arms around him, locking her fingers together as he tried once more to pull away.

"It's me John-Aeryn. I'm here. You are safe now. Wake up John." You don't have to be frightened." Speaking softly into his ear, she kept her tone even.

Turning his head slightly in the direction of her voice, "Ar-Aeryn? You're here. Where did it go? Where are you? Everything is black." He blinked his eyes rapidly and shook his head trying to pull himself together and figure out what was going on. "I'm okay"

Aeryn studied John closely noting that he was finally waking up but hardly functional. She kept her arms wrapped around him as he continued to wake up, finally she let go as he reached up to rub his eyes. It frightened her to see him like this once more. This was the third time she had found him in a different location of the ship without any guidance from anyone.

He quickly realized he couldn't see and everything he had just experienced was a dream. "God, that was so real." Grabbing her hand, he said once again, "I'm okay." Pushing against the wall to force himself to sit further upright, he would have fallen back over if Aeryn hadn't been continuing to hold him up. After a few moments, he said, "I got it. You can let go," and felt the pressure of Aeryn's arms around him lessen somewhat.

"John, it's all right, it was just a dream. Let me see your head," Aeryn said quietly and soothingly, trying to calm John down. Lifting his hand, he touched the area on his head that was throbbing, "Damn, that hurts." he said feeling dampness on his fingertips, "What's this? Am I bleeding" She could hear the panic edging into his voice.

"Yes, but very little." Aeryn stood up and took a rag off of a hook by the sink, wetting it; she brought it back to John and sat down. Dabbing the cut on his head, "There is a small cut on your forehead that little looks to be quite shallow. Now tell me what happened here? Can you remember?"

Wincing as the cloth touched the cut, he said, "The last thing I remember, I was lying in bed. I'm not real sure. I think, I think it was a dream. I recall waking up because I was hungry, and Aeryn, I could see"

She could hear the longing in his voice as he said the words and wished she could make Moya go faster towards the Diagnostician. Pausing in her ministrations to his head, Aeryn once more reassured him, "It 'will' happen soon John. Just a few more days," as she continued to blot the cloth against the minor wound, and calmly asked "What else happened?"

"I got dressed and went to the Center Chamber and started looking for something to eat when I heard a noise behind me. I turned and saw the creature from when I was in the wormhole. It's funny, I only remembered seeing it once and I distinctly remember thinking that it was strange that it was reappearing. I sorta had a feeling that I had met it once after last cycle, but I couldn't put my mind around when. It bothered me that all I could remember was the first time-from when we were stuck in Starburst. It had torn through the space-time fabric and I saw it pushing through trying to cross into our dimension. It spoke to me and said that it wasn't done with me yet. That I hadn't told it everything I knew about wormholes. I tried to get away, but it knocked me down, the last thing I remember before you waking me up was trying to crawl away from it as it came closer and closer. It was like something out of the old horror movies I watched as a kid. Scared the crap out of me."

Seeing that the bleeding had almost completely stopped, Aeryn stood and threw the rag in the waste disposal chute. John yawned as he listened to her movements from across the room, reaching out his hand; he said "Help me onto the bed, my legs feel like jello and I can't seem to get my bearings in here."

Frowning at him, she asked, "Do you think you can make it back to the room?"

"Back to the room? Aren't we already in our room?"

Slowly pulling John to his feet, 'No, we are in the center chamber."

"Hell, I must-I must have been sleep walking, but I have no memory of coming here. How did I find my way to the center chamber?"

Sliding her arm around his waist, she began leading him back. "You 'have' been learning certain routes through Moya. You must have remembered this one enough to follow it while you slept." The idea of his walking around in his sleep scared the dren out of her and she saw the look of concern on John's face as well, "John"

"You don't have to say it-This was the third time this has happened. If I'm walking in my sleep and thinking I can see, I can hurt myself. So what do we do about it?"

"For the rest of the sleep cycle, we can have Pilot lock us into our quarters, and tomorrow we will figure out something."

"At least it's a temporary something right? We'll only have to deal with this a few more days." He said as they neared the entrance to their room.

"Of course, we will be at the healer in three solar days. He'll restore your sight and end the trembling in your limbs.

"My Aeryn Sun Ever the optimist." He said chuckling, "Thank you." Sitting down on the bed, John held her hand for a moment before lying down.

Climbing into the bed with him, she wrapped her arms around him tightly, "For what?"

"For trying to keep my spirits up. I know I haven't been the easiest guy to live with the last couple of monens. For just being you. I love you, you know, " he said while nuzzling his cheek against her forehead.

Lifting her head slightly, she gave him a soft kiss on the lips, "I love you too. Now, we need to get some rest, we have a lot of work to do tomorrow."

Three solar days later, John sat in the center chamber waiting for Aeryn to come and get him to leave for the Diagnostician's office down on the non-descript but balmy planet below. John had terrible misgivings about trusting another diagnostician after his experiences on the ice planet a cycle ago. In addition, he thought that with his run of luck it might all be for nothing and that the healer may not be able to help him. He hadn't admitted these feelings of anxiety to Aeryn or any other person on Moya because he didn't want to burden them any more than he had to with his frelled-up psyche and growing depression. His stomach felt tight. "Rattlers, always rattlers before the big game." he mussed. He tried to rub his thumb on his lip, but missed due to the shaking in his hands. "Frell it!" he thought, nothing could be as bad as this.

Over the past two months he had been subjected to nightmares of his time trapped in the wormhole being grilled by Harvey and that made sleeping difficult. The sleepwalking incident a few nights before was just the icing on the cake. On top of his flashbacks, he was constantly feeling weak and debilitated with limbs that shook at the barest movement. He could barely walk without tipping over when one or both his legs decided to collapse in weakness at inopportune moments. He had to get over this and get on with his life.

Then there was the lack of vision. Moya and the uncharted territories remained tough to deal with at the best of times, but being blind made even the most ordinary things, such as the whirring wheels of a working DRD or one of Moya's servos closing a door a huge mystery that he had to figure out in order to function, causing more exhaustion. Lately, he jumped at the slightest sound as his ears grew more accustomed to filling in for his eyes. He was learning to recognize the sound of a pulse pistol being primed in Aeryn's hand as well as the shwook sound of D'Argo's qualta blade as it was removed from its sheath. He could also recognize the differences between Chiana's sliding walk and Jool's slithering skirt. He felt stressed out all the time. This constant need to be ultra aware of what was going on around him was tearing him up. Hell, this feeling of not knowing shit was worse now than when he first arrived on this butt-end of space. Despite his growing acceptance of his disability as he relearned his once-familiar environment, what he could no longer accomplish alone served as an irritant-a constant reminder of his total helplessness.

John ruminated on what happened just that morning. He was up sitting on the edge of the bed trying to put on his shoes. He reached down to the floor to where he could feel the boot lying against his leg and his shaking hand knocked the boot away from his reach. He then had to get down on his hands and knees and search for it. That was where Aeryn found him, much to his embarrassment. She didn't say anything, just handed him his shoe. He then compounded his frustration with the situation by being unable to steady his fingers enough to tie its laces. He was so fed up with his lack of ability function. He also was upset that he kept taking his frustrations out on Aeryn who seemed to have the patience of a saint.

What was he going to do if the doc couldn't fix him? He barely could dress, or take care of private functions by himself, and God knew what they were feeding him. Sometimes with his newly heightened senses of taste, smell, and touch it was all he could do not to gag at what he put in his mouth. Lately he had been sticking to food cubes to avoid nasty surprises. At the bottom of all his thoughts was the dim realization that he would not last long in this part of the universe in his current state. It terrified him that he was a burden to his crewmates, most importantly to Aeryn. She didn't deserve to be saddled with him, even with her sense of guilt over the accident. Although he had no doubts now that they would stick by him, he could see no reason why in the long run there was any point to it, given how dangerous being around him had become what with bounty hunters and Scorpius on his tail. And where would he be in his current state if everyone left? No, it was better to face the doctor's treatment than go on living like he was. Sighing for perhaps the hundredth time in sad resignation, he waited for Aeryn to make her appearance.

Aeryn stood by the door and watched John's meditation. He hadn't noticed her presence yet, but with his newly awaked awareness of his surroundings, if she moved, she was sure he would. She wanted to study him surreptitiously to gage his mood before they went down to the planet. He put on such a brave front and she wondered what he was really feeling. He wanted no help from the others and accepted their guidance and assistance with embarrassment and jokes to cover his frustration at his helplessness. John looked up and towards where she was standing, and she met his blind gaze directly. He hadn't sensed her yet. His face was still sallow and thin from his ordeal. His head and neck occasionally shook uncontrollably as did his hands and feet. He looked old and it scared her. There were streaks of gray in his hair that weren't there two monens ago before all the dren hit the frying pan, as John was so fond of saying. Aeryn noticed John grimace when his thumb missed his lip. She heard his whispered exclamation and had to smile at his use of UT curse words. He could get very creative lately. She chose that moment to make her presence known. "John, it's time to go."

John looked towards where Aeryn's voice emanated and gave her a tight smile. "Do I get a lollypop if I'm good?" Typically, such a question from John would be grounds for a mock-stern look from Aeryn, but since John couldn't see her response, she couldn't bring herself to play the game.

"I don't know what a lulypup is, but if you are good, I'll give you something even better." She tried to add a verbal smirk to her statement, but such subtleness was missed by the blind astronaut. She sighed in her sadness, and simply reached out her hand and touched John's wrist. John, as was becoming customary, stood up and took hold of her elbow. Together, the couple walked down Moya's golden halls to the hanger where the transport pod stood prepped and ready for departure.

D'Argo watched as the pair stepped into the room and snorted his frustration with his friend's situation. How could a warrior survive without eyes? In his culture, if you lost your vision and ability to fight, you died. John was in a terrible place and there was no way D'Argo could help him. It frightened him and that fear made him cross and he took it out on almost everyone around him, but especially John. Each time wished he could find the deepest crevice he could find and climb into it out of humiliation for his boorish behavior. Despite his best efforts, his anger over his inability to help appeared once more in his spoken voice as he said, "Took you long enough. It is time to go." Just then, Chiana came tearing into the room pulling on her coat as she came. Together, the four Moya crewmates entered the pod.

"Hey, D'Argo, old Man, Aeryn. You wouldn't leave without me, would 'cha?" D'Argo looked at the Nebari with an expression of pure aggravation, but said nothing. Aeryn also looked her way and nodded her head to say, just get in the pod and shut up.

John smiled in her general direction and said, "Wouldn't have you miss the fun, Chiana. Come on in."

While Chiana boarded the pod, Jool came running into the room breathless. She yelled, "Aeryn, wait, I need some medical and personal supplies. Don't close the door, I'm coming too."

Aeryn sighed and said, "John and I will have to take the Prowler so that there will be enough room for all the supplies I know that Chiana and Jool will bring back." John looked in her direction and opened his mouth as if to protest, "Don't say a word John, you know as well as I do that we will not be able to fit all of us inside of this pod on the way back."

"Aeryn." He hissed as she took his hand, she led him out of the pod, "Dammit Aeryn stop! I'm not a little kid and you're not my mother."

Stopping in front of the Prowler, she said, "I am sorry. John, I did 'not' mean it that way. I know you're uncomfortable right now with closed-in spaces - no else knows how to fly this but Chiana and there is 'no way' in Hezmana that I am going to allow her to fly my Prowler."

"Fine. You fly the Prowler, I'll go back to the Transport Pod." Turning away from her, he began walking in what he thought was the direction of the pod.

"John"

"No, dammit I can do this!" His leg decided at that moment to give out on his and he fell forward onto a nearby crate. Slamming his fist down in anger, which only served to strengthen the tremors the danced in his hand, "Frell!" He tried to clench his hands into fists to control them, but they would not obey the simple commands. Lowering his head in frustration on the crate, he said softly, "Aeryn"

"I'm coming John," she wanted him to feel in control of something around him as she asked, "Do you want me to take you to D'Argo?"

"No help me into the Prowler."

Taking him back to the Prowler, Aeryn climbed up behind him in case his hands decided to give out on him once more, slowly they made their way up until John was able to climb inside.

Making sure he was strapped in securely before climbing in herself, Aeryn asked as the canopy closed, "That wasn't so bad, now was it?"

The only answer she heard behind her was a lackluster, "Yeah it was just peachy."

Wishing she could do more to reassure him, Aeryn watched as D'Argo lifted the Transport Pod off of the hanger floor.

"Moya has opened the outer doors and you are welcome to depart." Pilot said in his typically dry voice. More quietly he said, "Good luck and we hope that the Commander returns with good news and good health."

Part 2

John's foot tapped restlessly on the floor of the Diagnostician's outer office and his hands danced on the arms of the chair. Aeryn paced near by, resonating with John's growing anxiety.

"We've been waiting for over an arn. Why is it that specialists all over the universe make you wait even when you have an appointment?" John asked peevishly. "It must be in their medical contract."

Aeryn looked over at him and sighed and continued pacing.

The door to the inner office opened and an officious alien with a mousy look to him read Crichton's name off a data pad. "Come this way Mr. Butch." John looked in the direction of the voice and reached out to Aeryn for guidance. They both moved towards the door.

"I am Lota. I will be translating for the Diagnostician. What brings you to see the doctor today?"

"Frelling fekkik," John mumbled under his breath in exasperation.

Aeryn gave John an annoyed look, forgetting that he couldn't see her, and responded before he could get in a sarcastic word, "As you can see, my mate has been injured. Two months ago he was in an explosive decompression while out on deep space maneuvers. Our ship's medical technician patched him up as well as she could, but he still is having palsy problems and is blind."

"I see," said the little mousy alien and proceeded to write Aeryn's information on the pad. He tapped his stylus on its edge and said, "Tell Mr. Butch to step into this room and remove his clothes."

'What a drannit,' Aeryn thought looking at the irritating little creature. She was about to tell him to address John himself when he made his own thoughts known on the translator's attitude.

"I can't see, frelnik. I'm not stupid," John grumbled at the translator's patronizing attitude. "Now I know what Tom Sullivan felt like all those years." He grasped Aeryn's elbow and she lead him into the room and directed him over to the diagnostic chair. She showed him its edge and stood by in case he needed assistance disrobing.

John fumbled at the closures on his duster finding it impossible to make his fingers squeeze its clips. They just wouldn't follow his mental orders. Aeryn quietly undid these and pulled the duster off his vibrating arms. John's legs took that exact moment to fold up underneath him, causing him to tip on to the diagnostic chair. Aeryn caught him just in time to prevent his total collapse. "Must be my nerves," he said shakily. Between the two of them, he was soon striped down to his Calvins.

She noticed his breathing had quickened with each microt that passed, looking closely at him she could see everything about John screamed of nervousness being in the cold room, "It'll be ok, John." Aeryn said softly, still holding his arm in support. "Just try to relax. This isn't the ice planet." He looked over to where her voice was coming from and smiled slightly in gratitude and with her help, placed himself in the chair.

The tall Diagnostician strode into the room followed by his small assistant. The doctor resembled Tocot, the ice planet's Diagnostician, enough to be his twin. He had the same long muscular arms and delicate fingers as well as the same breathing mask and mirror arrangement covering his sensitive nose, mouth, and other sensory organs. Luckily, thought Aeryn, John can't see the resemblance. He ignored Crichton and spoke to Aeryn in the lilting Diagnostician's language. The mousy alien translated, "Officer Sundance, this is Dr. Selcot. He will be treating your crew mate." The mousy assistant glanced at Crichton with distain, and stated, "He understands that the crewman is not Sebacean. He will need more of a case history before determining how to proceed with his treatment."

John interrupted the translator and tried to tell what he knew about the accident. "I don't know much about what happened because all I remember was a large bang and the next thing I knew I was waking up in darkness. I know that this shaking in my arms and legs is getting worse. I can't seem to grasp things like I used to when this began and my legs tend to suddenly collapse from under me without my control. I will do whatever you require if you can heal me."

The Doctor nodded and the assistant made a short note on his pad, and shook his head as if to say, but of course, and together, they turned to Aeryn. "Officer Sundance," trilled the doctor through the medium of the translator, "Can you tell us more details of what your medical technician found?"

Aeryn stood at parade rest and without thinking, provided a standard report. "Our medical tech said that Butch had a pulmonary embolism from the rapid loss of pressurization in his spacecraft. When they rescued my mate and took him through repressurization, he was paralyzed. While on the med tech's diagnostic table, he went into generalized convulsions and then became paralyzed again. He suffered from hypoxia, decompression sickness, an aveolar tear caused by the blood clot, and pulmonary hemorrhaging from the exposure to vacuum. Butch also had damage to his brain's white matter and slight changes to the myelin covering on his spinal chord due to reduced blood flow to that area."

Aeryn continued her report, "During the past three months, he has regained some use of his arms, hands, legs, and body, but still deals with palsy."

John looked down and closed his eyes during Aeryn's recitation. He felt invisible and deeply disconcerted at the discussion that was continuing as if he couldn't speak or wasn't' there.

John tried to regain his respect by quipping to the doctor, " Yeah, doc, I can now make a mean milkshake." The diagnostician glanced towards where John sat on the chair, ignoring his remark, asked his assistant to set up the scanning devices they would need to analyze their patient. No one spoke to John as he continued to sit shaking on the chair. He began to have goose bumps and shivered with emotion.

Aeryn noticed John's discomfort, reached over and squeezed John's hand and continued her report, "The med tech repaired the circulatory damage, but because she got to Butch too late after the accident, she was unable to repair the damage that the loss of blood supply caused to his nervous system. Hence, she could do nothing about his optic nerve and the part of his brain controlling his motor skills."

John couldn't stand the stress and his rising annoyance, and yelled, "I am over here. I am the patient. I am totally able to explain myself. I am blind, not deaf, not insane (well not much), and I do not need your patronizing attitude. Talk to me, not Sundance."

For the first time, the Doctor and assistant really looked at John. The doctor trilled and the mouse translated, "We don't typically deal with unknown races. We have found most to be not worth treating since our success rate is so poor. In your case, since you seem so similar to a Sebacean and yet much more emotional, you will make a good subject for our xenobiology research. We will therefore make an exception. The doctor is going to have to perform a thorough body scan to ascertain the functioning of your neural and pulmonary system. Please try to relax. This should not take long, then we will see if your injuries are treatable."

John lay back on the now reclined chair and tried to smother his anxiety as the scan seemed to continue for arns. Finally, the doctor finished, and pulled up the data containing the results of his analysis. As John lay in the dark and shook, the doctor made his diagnosis. "The patient is suffering from damage to the nuclei in the midbrain area in his brainstem, possibly the substantia nigra that controls the involuntary movement of his limbs. He is also suffering from the destruction of his optic nerve." Aeryn moved closer to let John know she was there with him. "We can repair the damage to his brainstem, but his optic nerve is permanently damaged and therefore his vision cannot be replaced."

John sagged in his seat and breathed out slowly. He hadn't even realized that he was holding his breath until that moment. He tried to rub his bottom lip with his thumb, but missed due to his increased palsy. Aeryn grasped his trembling hand and held it tightly. She blinked back the tears in her eyes and hoped they weren't visible to the doctor and his assistant. She had to be strong for John.

"Well, doc, I want you to fix what you can. At least some part of me is still under warranty." John said, trying hard to buck himself up with a weak joke. "I guess that's the good news, right? So what's the bad news?" In John's new world, there was always bad news.

For once, the doctor responded directly to the depressed astronaut. "The bad news is that we were not able to get a good enough scan to recognize what all of the nuclei do in your brain and nervous system. You will have to assist us in our repairs by letting us know physically when we make the correct connections in your limbs and their muscles. This can prove rather painful."

Aeryn's heart sunk at the thought of John having to experience even more pain, even if it would cure the tremors in his body. He had been through too much already and this last was all due to her.

"It never ends, does it? It just gets better and better." John thought morosely. He looked blankly up and towards where he thought the doctor stood and said, "Well, I don't have any other choice, do I? Unique is always special. Let's do it then."

Part 3

John lay on the neurosurgery bed strapped down and for the second time in his life about to have his head sliced open, feeling competely and utterly helpless. His whole world consisted of the dark and the cold metal table with its strips of plastic holding his head in place, and soft hum of the bioneutralizing field under which the doctor worked. His only contact with warmth was the hand that held his, Aeryn his constant. He closed his eyes and waited for the Doctor to commence his work.

"The doctor will begin by pulling on a neuron. Please let us know if your palsy changes as he massages the nuclei." The doctor manipulated something at John's head and he let out a grunt as his right finger jumped and his hand tensed. John said, "That's my right finger and the tendons feel like you just used me for a sling shot." He heard the trilling of the Diagnostician as he acknowledged him and adjusted a tool and continued his work. Suddenly, John's neck and shoulder tensed and he cried out in pain. Aeryn squeezed his hand in sympathy.

"Frell!" he whispered as the pain died away with the cramping. "This is gonna be a long day."

Aeryn watched in barely contained silence, wishing that it was her instead of John undergoing the procedure as one by one the doctor manipulated the nuclei of John's brainstem repairing those synapses that had gone wrong during the accident. It was a long arduous process that had John covered with sweat and trembling by the time the doctor turned off the green light indicating that he had finished.

Just when he thought it would go on forever, the doctor surprised John by speaking intelligibly; saying "Fixed you normal. Rest."

John blinked his eyes blearily at the doctor's words as Aeryn tried to wipe the sweat off his brow with the edge of her duster. The assistant released the straps that held him immobile, but John didn't move. He was awash with phantom pains as his limbs trembled. He was so tired and felt so alone in his darkness. He turned his head slowly and called out to Aeryn, "Hey." He tried to roll over and get up, but couldn't manage the turn. Aeryn gently pushed him back on to the table.

"Shush, rest John. You've been through a lot."

"'kay," he mumbled and closed his eyes and slept.

Aeryn quietly left John's side and went to find the assistant to ask what the next steps were in John's recovery as well as to pay the bill. She found the assistant sitting at his desk next to a large pile of data chips and pads. He looked up at her and blinked twice, "Yes. May I help you?"

"What can we expect during Butch's recovery? How successful was the procedure? I need information." Aeryn stated in her best Peacekeeper take-no-prisoners voice.

The assistant sat up straighter and gave her a data chip. "This contains instructions on your mate's recovery procedures as well as a bill for the doctor's services. Please pay as you leave."

Aeryn shook her head at the mousy alien's attitude and placed the chip in the reader in the waiting room and as she read the report, her mood fell. John was in for continued tremors as his neurons grew new connections slowly. He was also going to experience weakness in his limbs periodically as well as fatigue. Aeryn was dreading telling John what to expect, but she knew he would want the information told to him plainly and honestly. She felt so helpless and inadequate in this situation. It was way beyond her experience as a Peacekeeper where disabilities were met with swift and permanent censure. She sighed and went to wake John, help him get dressed, and leave.

John woke slowly. He still felt woozy and unbalanced. He opened his eyes and was shocked once more at the lack of light or change from the darkness of sleep. He would never get used to this. He sighed and tried to push up with his right and then left arms to raise himself to a sitting position, but the weakness in his forearms caused him to fall back into a prone position. "Damn it to hell!" he exclaimed as his back hit the metal table's minimal padding. He tried to raise himself up by rolling over and after several tries, succeeded in sitting up with his legs dangling off the table. He panted heavily and felt the sweat trickle down the inside of his T-shirt. He felt his hands vibrating and knew he would have to wait a few microts before he attempted to stand, if he could at all. He banged his fist on the table in frustration. Just then, he heard the door open and the swishing sound of Aeryn's duster as she stepped into the operating theater. "So, did you pay the bill so we can blow this popsicle stand?" He asked in her general direction.

"Yes, I did. I also got a report on what you can expect in the next few monens as you recover. John, and it's not going to be easy. The diagnostician says that he repaired your nerves, but the healing will take time. In the mean time, you're going to still have weakness in your arms and legs as well as some shaking. It will get better over time. We'll see it through together." Aeryn paused to see how John was taking the news that he was not altogether healthy again. There was no response. John's shoulders were bowed and his head hung down as if he was looking at his hands that were shaking with the palsy. "John, are you listening to me?"

John looked up and around trying to locate Aeryn by the direction of her voice. His brows furrowed in concentration as he listened and then when he had found her, he nodded to acknowledge her news, but said nothing. Turning to jump off the table, he grimaced in frustration when he managed only to fall back against it as his right knee collapsed underneath him. "Shit!" He yelled.

Aeryn moved to take his arm, saying gently "Let me help you."

John waved his arm in Aeryn's general direction and growled, "I don't need your help, Aeryn. You did not have to leave wherever the frell you went just to nursemaid me. I have to learn to take care of myself. I am not an invalid. I can stand up and walk out of here myself if my frelling legs would cooperate. Anyway, I thought this operation was supposed to fix things."

"John, the doctor said it would take time for your nerves to grow the new synapse connections needed to restore your coordination. I thought I told you that." Aeryn decided to try sympathy since reasoning with John didn't seem to be working. "Look, I am sorry that you have to go through this. I know it isn't fair. I understand your frustration, but since when did things go easy for us?"

John straightened up and turned towards where he believed the door out of the operating room was located. He limped carefully forward with his arm outstretched so as not to bump into any obstacles. Suddenly, his foot hit the edge of the scanning device and he started to fall. Only Aeryn's quick reflexes as she caught his arm prevented him from smashing his chin on the hard floor. He sat down where he was and beat the floor with his fists. Then, just as quickly, his mood changed and he shook his head, and whispered, "What's the use? Why should I even try to pretend that I can manage my life anymore? I feel useless, helpless, and completely alone. I can't even walk out the door without falling. How can I expect to survive out here like this?" John grated out. "You might as well leave me here."

Aeryn crouched down next to John and placed her two hands around his cheeks and turned his face towards hers, she said gently, "I won't have this. It is not like you not to keep fighting."

"Aeryn, I don't need your sympathy. I don't need your feelings of guilt about the fact that he died and here I am suffering too. I'm not him, I'm me, John Crichton, blind and crippled."

"Frell that!" Aeryn yelled at him, her hands clenching into fists in her anger. "You've been through dren here, I know. But your attitude is not helping at all. Strength John. We'll do this together. I didn't come back to Moya and you to see you quit. I came back to be with you, the only John Crichton, no matter what."

All of his frustration over his current irreversible situation came rushing to the forefront and he couldn't stop the words as they rushed out of him, "No matter what! No matter what! What exactly do you mean, Aeryn? Did your decision to stay include trusting me with your heart? Why haven't you told me everything about your time away or are you only gonna tell me the parts you felt you could trust me with, which is exactly nothing? Did you no longer share with me because I am only half a man? Did no matter what include sharing the news of your pregnancy, Aeryn? What about the baby, Aeryn? When were you going to tell me?" John knew he was being a bastard, she hadn't had to stay with him, care for him, but she did. It was as if something inside had opened up and he couldn't stop his words, hurtful as they were, and pushed on, saying "And maybe you were wondering like I am about how good a father I'll be without eyes to see with. Maybe that's why you didn't tell me. I wouldn't have either." Tears were streaming down John's face as he turned towards Aeryn.

Aeryn looked at John in shock. Standing up, she stepped back from where he sat on the floor. Barely able to control her anger over his words, she said slowly and quietly, "I don't want to talk about this here. We are leaving now." With that, she tossed John his coat and helped him stand and shrug it on without fastening it. She grabbed his elbow and led him out of the Diagnostician's center and out into the city street. Neither John nor Aeryn spoke a word the entire way back to where the prowler was parked. John followed Aeryn's lead numbly, his feet stumbling on weak legs. Aeryn's pace did not change as she tried to walk off her anger and hurt.

Aeryn silently helped John climb the ladder into the prowler and settled him in the back seat. She fastened his harness with a solid tug on each clip before taking her own seat. She then with much determination ran the pre-flight tests, snapping each switch on the instrument panel with more force than was required. John remained silent throughout the entire process.

When the prowler had cleared the atmosphere, Aeryn's ability to remain silent shredded and she whispered, "When did you find out?"

John replied back in a subdued voice, "I didn't really know. I guessed from your behavior. I know we really didn't have a chance to talk before the explosion and all the following dren. I shouldn't have said what I did. I am just so scared. I don't know how I am going to survive. I wanted so much to be the father of your child, no matter who the real daddy is. How can I be there for you and the baby now?"

Aeryn looked back at John. She moved her hands off the control stick to reach back to grasp his hands as her tears began to fall. At that very moment, a blue eerie light filled the cabin pulsing and glowing. Aeryn turned quickly back to grab the control stick and check the sensors for the cause, but was too late. Her head slammed against the cockpit as the ship hit the wormhole's surface. John was rammed back in his seat and held by his harness. He screamed, "Aeryn, what the hell just happened?"

The lack of response from her frightened him. He felt light headed and fey, as if there was an extra sound and energy running about inside his head. He suddenly recognized the odd ringing inside him. The buzz coursed through his head as if he were Pavlov's dog being called to dinner. "Aeryn!"

John fumbled with the clasps to his flight harness and released their clips. Reaching forward, his hands quickly found her. He could feel the moisture from the wound to the side of her head. "Oh god! Aeryn!"

"Okayokay don't panic shit shit," knowing he had to do something as Aeryn didn't respond to him shaking her.

The ringing in his head begins to pulsate; and suddenly he remembered where he had felt it before. He leaned over the seat and tried to climb over, but it was too tight for him to fit with Aeryn still strapped in and he knew that he won't be able to get her over the seat for the same reason.

Reaching forward, his hands searched for the controls and after a couple of microts he found it. Gripping it tightly, he could feel the heavy thrust of the power in his hands.

Unable to help himself as the ringing in his mind became too strong, he began to follow it-his hands instinctively turning the control stick with each twist of the wormhole, rolling with its rotation. John vaguely remembered feeling this same zen ability when he rode a roller coaster as a kid. The wormhole sang for him-its space and time loops and passages hummed like a metal detector when it found treasure. He let himself ride the inner vibration that changed pitch with his correct response. He could feel each dip and swell as he glided the prowler through the monster that had swallowed them. He smiled without knowing it. It made him feel really alive, as if he had only been sleeping for the majority of his life and he never wanted it to end Eyes weren't necessary he suddenly realized. He could do this without thinking or seeing. He just gave himself to its call willingly.

Suddenly he heard a beautiful sound, "Officer Sun-Commander-are. you. all right?" John shakily released the control stick with one hand and tapped his comm. "Hello Pilot. I am very happy to hear your voice. Do we have permission to come aboard?

"Yes, of course you do, Commander. I hope the operation went well."

"Yes, everything is fine, Pilot. Please release the docking web and pull us in because I don't think I can handle landing and Aeryn is unconscious."

John slumped back in his seat in exhaustion. He felt the tug of the docking web as it grabbed hold of the prowler. He sighed in relief. He couldn't believe what just happened. Maybe he could be of some use in his current state. He didn't need eyes to navigate wormholes. He leaned forward and searched for Aeryn's head. He gently stroked her hair. "It's gonna be alright baby. We're gonna be alright, together."

Part 4

Noranti Pralagong's inner eye glowed magenta as she watched John and Aeryn's prowler land on the hanger deck. She had secreted herself in a dark corner of the maintenance bay to watch the proceedings. "Bless the divine, everything is coming together and the future is clearer," she muttered as she chewed a collection of herbs and spat the results into her hand. "I need to prepare a proper welcome, yes a stew of goshlak and grolak would be appropriate." She opened a maintenance grate in the wall and crawled into the dark duct that would take her unseen back to the center chamber.

Chiana, D'Argo, and Jool were waiting in the hanger when Pilot brought the prowler into its berth. They waited impatiently, but when neither Aeryn nor John appeared from out of the ship, D'Argo ran forward and popped the canopy, expecting the worst. When he looked into the cockpit, he immediately saw why neither crewmate had exited. John sat leaning forward cradling Aeryn's head in his shaking hands. Suddenly, Aeryn stirred and shook her head to clear it of the last residues of unconsciousness. She grimaced when that action aggravated the ache in her head and looked up at D'Argo.

"John, are you all right?" she asked looking into the back of the prowler.

"Yeah, I'm cool," he said and then smiled. "Aeryn, I did it, Baby. I flew the wormhole. I got us home." John sighed, leaned back in his seat and closed his eyes.

D'Argo, not knowing what transpired, simply reached in and took Aeryn's hand to help her out of the prowler. Aeryn smiled weakly, knowing that John was going to weather this storm. She said, "Apparently, we had another adventure with a wormhole, but John pulled our eemas out of the fire this time."

D'Argo just shook his head and snorted. He quickly grasped John's hand and hauled him out of the prowler before John could protest. Together, the two men left the hanger, John's hand grasping D'Argo's elbow for guidance. While Jool and Chiana looked over Aeryn's injuries, both women asking what the outcome of the surgery had been. Aeryn quickly relayed the news of both the success and failure of their trip. Each woman was crest-fallen over the situation of their mate, brother and friend.

Later that day as the crew joined together for evening meal, John seemed much more upbeat about his situation. Aeryn kept her hand on his arm while he waxed effusive about their trip through the wormhole. "I could feel the quantum flux in my mind humming as I navigated the wormhole. I've never felt anything like it in my life. It was like riding the biggest rollercoaster in the world, like holding a whirlwind in my hands." John's face literally glowed as he exclaimed, "Maybe I can beat this thing. Maybe I can still survive here." John stood and raised his arms in a "Rocky Cheer" and sat down sheepishly as he realized that no one understood his effusive earthism.

It was also a good thing that John couldn't see D'Argo's, Aeryn's, and Chiana's faces as they looked at each other with alarm at the golden glow surrounding John until it slowly dimmed.

Noranti stood on the sidelines and hummed subvocally as she listened to the blind astronaut. She was using a mortar and pestle to crush a mass of herbs and saliva to dust. Her inner eye continued to glow magenta in time to her tuneless song.

For the next several weekens, John worked hard to learn his way around Moya. Having asked Pilot and Jool to help develop a DRD into a guide dog (although neither Jool nor Pilot knew exactly what that meant, they got the gist of what he wanted). John used the echo-location pulses put out by the modified DRD to help him navigate Moya's winding corridors. He tested his ability to avoid objects in his path by having Aeryn set up an obstacle course in one of the unused maintenance bays. He ran the obstacle course daily with his guide DRD until he could sense where things were located within denches.

John remembered seeing Braile a few times, but not knowing the alphabet himself, he asked Chiana come up with his own version to help him identify where he was and the each of each control panel. He figured he could learn to run the panels by memory, given enough incentive and opportunity to practice.

Day by day, his legs and arms became stronger and the spasms gradually began to lessen. Aeryn began to teach him exercises for his hands and body to strengthen the weakened muscles. He was feeling much more confidant as his strength increased.

John knelt down next to his pet DRD when Chiana happened on him early one day cycle. "I think I'll call you Pax, my seeing eye DRD. You won't eat much and you're just a loyal. Remind me to paint you white." He gave the DRD an affectionate pat on its carapace. Chiana smiled at the "Crichtonism" and danced up to him and spoke out to let him know she was there. "Hey Old Man, how 'ya doin'?"

"Doin' fine Little Girl." John said as he stood up and started his slightly unsteady walk down the corridor holding tightly to Pax's leash. Chiana watched him as he banged against one of Moya's bulkheads, recovered and continued on. She shook her head at his amazing tenacity.

Pax and John could be seen walking all over Moya testing their growing freedom as John daily grew more and more self-sufficient.

The only problem he couldn't seem to overcome was very subtle. Every time that he got near the hanger where the remains of his module and Aeryn's prowler were parked, his heart started racing, his palms sweated, and he felt short of breath. "A panic attack, just what I need," he thought the first time this occurred. The feeling of breathlessness, flushed cheeks, and pain in his chest began to happen even when he thought of flying or just being away from the familiar walls of Moya. It was driving him crazy. He didn't tell Aeryn, and luckily there were very few requirements to stock up at a commerce planet since he had returned from the Diagnostician. He knew he couldn't hide his fears and anxiety forever, but he hoped he could overcome his emotional situation before Aeryn and the rest of the crew began to question his behavior. He just knew that if he went down to a planet something terrible would happen. He kept telling himself he was acting like a scared kid, that everything would be fine, but that did not make the fears fade away.

Noranti continued her silent haunting of the blind astronaut, watching his successes and defeats. One morning John was sitting at one of the work stations. Pieces of a DRD sat in cluttered disarray in front of him on the table, to see if he could regain his ability to assist in repairs. Pieces of a DRD sat in cluttered disarray in front of him on the table. Rubbing his fingers against the edge of the wires, John placed the two connections together and he heard the soft hum of gears turning inside the drd. Suddenly he smelled something rotten mixed with spices and knew what is was, "Can I help you with something granny?"

Noranti said nothing as she sidled up to him from the back and blew a hand full of dust into his face as he slowly made his turn. John stumbled off his stool and rubbing his eyes, exclaimed, "What the frell!"

"See the truth, feel the future, ride the wild ride in your darkness," Noranti whispered as John spun around, his blind eyes rolled up into his head. John could see the blue tornado as he rode its swoops and turns with ease. The hum in his head burned and snapped in time with its twists. John collapsed on the maintenance bay's floor and as he lost consciousness he heard Noranti's voice chanting, "The child, the child of a man of darkness and light and a woman of power and gentleness shall unite the shadow realms in peace. Sleep now."

John woke a short time later, his head pounding and wondering how he was on the floor. He groped around the floor cursing his blindness as he foggily searched for Pax' leash. "Jeesh, this fainting thing seems to be happening more and more." John shook his head as a memory of blue swirling mists floated in front of his sightless eyes. "Now I'm feeling wormholes when they're not even there. Gotta see Jool about this dren." Finally locating Pax' leash, he directed the little DRD he had painted white like its television namesake towards Zaahn's medbay.

John groped his way the medbay having earlier commed Jool to meet him there. He called out to the Interon, "Hey Princess, got anything for a headache?" Jool smiled at John, knowing he couldn't see her affectionate response, and answered gruffly, "Crichton, this is the third time you've been here for headaches. I need to examine you to see what is causing this pain."

"Nah, Princess, just cure the head thing and I figure the pain'll go away as soon as my frelled up system gets used to this stupid situation."

Jool shook her head and sighed as she surreptitiously filled her injector with a cartridge of antidepressant and tranquilizers. She reached out and grasped John's arm and pressed home the shot. It hissed as the dosage of relaxants entered his system. Jool observed how John's face took on a more relaxed look, she almost laughed at the silly smile that formed on his lips.

John felt the medication begin to work as the blue psychedelics faded away. The pain that seemed centered directly in the back of his head began to fade, along with his unease of finding himself on the floor once again. More and more he felt his life was out of control, dizzily careening between these frelling blackouts and utter exhaustion. He waved vaguely in the direction he thought Jool stood and left the apothecary. He thought he would head to his quarters to sleep. Signaling to Pax, he turned down the correct corridor and ran straight into Aeryn. Aeryn cursed loudly as she picked both of them up off the floor. "John, just the person I wanted to see."

"Well, you found me," he said as he rubbed his shoulder where it had collided with the floor.

"Let me help you to our quarters. We need to talk." Trying to not seem obvious, Aeryn had been watching John and each of the crew's reaction to his situation. Jool's ministrations, she understood. They had each noticed how he fought his growing anxiety when talk of leaving Moya was brought up. For the moment, it was the only thing keeping them from taking more direct action, so she saw no need to quell the Interion's medicinal approach. Despite seeing things from a warrior's perspective, Aeryn knew that she had to speak to D'Argo about his almost constant verbal abuse of John. She knew D'Argo didn't mean the harsh words he spoke, but he had no way other means at the moment to alleviate his fear for John's safety.

"Aeryn, let go, I need to do this myself," John growled as he shrugged Aeryn's hand off his arm. He signaled Pax to guide him into their room. Sighing, Aeryn followed after the pair. She admired his struggle for independence, but there was only so much John could do on his own. She was afraid that he would take it too far and inadvertly harm himself.

John, I know you are having nightmares. Frell, the entire ship has listened to your screams each night. Each time you fight me when I try and wake you. This has got to stop."

John slowly groped for the edge of the bed and sat down. He looked down at his hands and whispered hoarsely, "Aeryn, I don't know what is going on. Lately I feel like the entire universe is conspiring to frell me over.I know this isn't something new, but the feeling just seems to be growing. Yes, I've been having horrific nightmares flashbacks the critter Harvey - wormholes." John felt the sweat run down this neck as his arms filled with goosebumps. The blue tornadoes again swirled in his darkness. A hum cluttered his brain. He shook his head to clear it of the noise, but nothing seemed to help. He heard Aeryn's distant voice, but couldn't make out her words for a few microts.

"John, are you listening?"

"Huh, Oh, yeah," John looked up and nodded.

Aeryn reached out and tenderly wiped the unacknowledged tears from where they ran down John's cheeks. She said softly, "John, tell me what is wrong. You have the strength to get over this dren. I've seen you."

John's arms circled around her waist, taking comfort in her warmth, "Aeryn, I feel as if I'm haunted by something. I know that if I leave Moya something terrible and wonderful is going to happen."

Noranti nodded from her hiding place in the ceiling ductwork. "Feel the pull of space and time. Take it within yourselves." She blew more powers into John's room; hitting both of the lovers as they embraced.

Aeryn and John both looked up to the ceiling and sniffed as they tried to clear their heads of their combined sudden fogginess. Aeryn had a powerful feeling she knew who was behind these episodes of confusion she'd been having as well as John's anxiety." Stroking John's cheek one final time, she said, "I have to see about a problem with the venting system. I'll be back shortly." She stormed out of his quarters to confront the witch. John sat on his bed staring at wormholes as he tried to pull the tattered pieces of his composure together once more.

Aeryn found Noranti puttering in the kitchen area and slammed her against a bulkhead. "What dren have you been feeding us, witch?"

"Nothing consequential." Noranti replied as she struggled to breath under the Peacekeeper's onslaught.

"If I ever see you drugging John or myself, I will kill you and feed your loomas to Rygel." Aeryn stated as she released the old woman. She then wiped her hands on her pants to rid them of the smell and strode out of the kitchen. Noranti smiled at the retreating figure with all of her eyes.

D'Argo, John, and Chiana sat in the center chamber trying to enjoy the early morning peace before Rygel joined them and the quiet they would find would be between mouthfuls of food. Chiana wrinkled her nose as she bit into a green food cube. "These things taste more like dren every day. When are we going to replace this felsick with real food?"

D'Argo nodded his agreement and grimaced when he bit down on something mushy within his cube. "Argh Definitely! Our finances are adequate, and even if they were not, I cannot go another day eating this dren either." Pilot!" D'Argo bellowed. "We need to find a commerce planet."

Pilot's face appeared on the "clam shell, his voice one of chastisement as he said, "You do not have to yell, Ka D'Argo, I am always here. I will set my sensors to this task and let you know shortly what I find."

D'Argo replied slightly sheepishly, "Thank you, Pilot." D'Argo looked over at John who sat quietly fingering his food cube. D'Argo hoped that this time he could entice the astronaut to leave Moya. "John, what do you think? I for one would love to find a bar and get a drink and stretch my have not been down to a planet since the healer." He looked over at his friend, and couldn't help but feel pity for the man. Taking a deep breath, he said, "I would enjoy it a great deal if you joined me in a drink."

Crichton swallowed his food cube, and coughed as it went down the wrong way. Chiana immediately jumped up and slapped him on the back, which only made him choke worse. John's palms started to sweat as the heat rushed up through his body and settled on his face turning his cheeks bright red. He felt as if his head was going to explode from the burning in his face and the ringing in his ears. He knew that he was sweating because he felt the cold trickle running down his neck inside his T-shirt. His heart was pumping a mile a minute and he clutched his right hand over his chest to try to deal with the sudden sharp pain there. He was sure he was having a heart attack. He swayed in his seat with dizziness and sudden weakness. There was no way he could follow his friends down to that planet, he just couldn't face the possibility of something going wrong because of him. He knew his feelings were irrational, but that was what he felt to the bottom of his shoes. He had to convince the others that he nonchalantly didn't want to go. He had to hide his emotional dren until he could deal with it (although in his heart he knew that he really wasn't able to handle these fears). He managed to rasp out, "No, thanks, D. I think I'll stay on board this trip. I need to brush up on my studies of Moya." He hoped no one noticed his sudden fit of anxiety.

D'Argo glanced at Chiana with consternation. Chiana shrugged as if to say, let me handle him. Neither said a word, knowing that John couldn't see that they witnessed his latest episode of panic. It was not the first time that they had seen this in the past monens since he had been back.

"It's your loss," Chiana responded lightly. "I get to pick the food, and maybe I'll only get marjoles this time." Chiana had to give John time to recover his equilibrium. She wanted to help him break this new gitch in his recovery, but she didn't know quite how to do it. Knowing that he would never confess to his anxiety, she was at a complete loss how to help him through this. He was so much better at listening than in sharing his own pain. "Sure you don't want to come, old man? You can follow me around and see the sights."

"Naa, I'll just stick around here," John replied, in what he hoped wasn't too shaky a voice. He still felt unsettled by this episode, but it was now passing as the danger was over.

John stayed up in Pilot's den while the rest of the crew went down to the planet. Pilot was curious about why he didn't go with the rest, but in consult with Moya decided to let the issue rest. He and Moya had observed on numerous occasions during the Commander's recovery that he seemed frightened somewhat when faced with the prospect of leaving the ship. Pilot understood in his way way that fear, the idea of being separated from Moya for any length of time terrified him. To be unable to see and feel as one with the great living ship was something he never wanted to face again.

Consulting Moya, Pilot asked her opinion if he should mention their observations to the others, she responded by conveying that it would not be necessary, the others were aware of his situation. If they did not act soon, then Pilot had her blessing to take it upon himself to act in their behalf.

Nodding his head in agreement, Pilot noticed that John was nearing too close to the edge of the platform and swiftly grabbed the Human's arm. "You must be careful Commander."

Crichton grabbed unto the edge of the large consol and said, "Thanks Pilot, gotta remember that first drop is a doozie."

With Pilot's help, Crichton climbed onto the consol, and together, the two crewmates spent a quiet day with their own thoughts and duties. John spent his time again dismantling and trying to reassemble a DRD, while Pilot and a couple of other DRDs assisted him in his work and kept track of Moya's systems as well as the status of the planet-side contingent.

Aeryn watched John as he maneuvered down Moya's corridor using his pet DRD to guide him down the center. He was becoming more confident with each passing day, easily following the DRD's beeps as it indicated to the blind man to turn right or left at forks in the hallway. Aeryn silently followed behind as John headed towards the maintenance bay where she worked with him on toning his muscles. John whistled tonelessly to himself, and then muttered when he couldn't remember the next note. Aeryn smiled lovingly and wondered for the thousandth time if he ever was quiet. Aeryn had been stealthily tracking John's movements because she wanted to surprise him with a kiss at the right time, when she noticed that he had made a wrong turn. John halted in his tracks as he passed through the doorway into the large room. Suddenly he froze and began to shiver. Sweat beaded his brow and his eyes grew wide. His breaths came in short bursts and he began to cough. He leaned over and wrapped his arms around his middle as his shivers turned to full-scale tremors. He dropped down on his knees. Aeryn abandoned the game and ran towards her stricken lover. "John! What's wrong?"

John was concentrating on recovering from the wave of dizziness that overcame him. His head buzzed and he thought he was about to pass out. Pain radiated down his left arm and his fingers and toes tingled. He had to get a grip on himself before somebody saw his condition. "Shit," he thought to himself when he heard Aeryn, "too late." All this dren brought on because the DRD had indicated via its beeping code that he was in the hanger bay. He knew he was a mess, but still felt terribly embarrassed at Aeryn's call.

"Nothing, Aeryn. I just lost my balance," John lied.

"John, it is something. Please tell me what's wrong and do not tell me nothing."

"I don't want to talk about it. I can handle it. It is just some dizziness. I'll be fine." John tried to change the subject. "What were you doing following me anyway?"

"I wanted to surprise you with something, but it does not matter now. Will you please see Jool about the dizziness. Promise me, ok?"

"Yeah, I will babe. Promise." John waved in the direction of her voice, and signaled to the DRD to take him out of the hanger as fast as possible. He needed to get back to his quarters where he could recover from this latest attack in private. Knowing he was playing a dangerous game with his mind and Aeryn's patience, he couldn't help trying to placate her feelings about his well-fair. It was embarrassing as hell to even admit to himself that he was frightened to death of the idea of leaving Moya.

Once in side the comforting room and lying down, John realized that his anxiety was becoming a full-blown case of agoraphobia, but could see no way of overcoming this mental affliction. At home he could have seen a therapist who would have given him a slow course of treatment to assist him in facing his fears. But here in the uncharted territories where could he find a Dr. Joyce Brothers when he needed her? So he languished and tried to overcome his fears through humor and avoidance.

Calling the others to the center chamber, she knew it was time they did something about John and the strange behavior that had begun to dominate his life. After explaining what she had seen a short time earlier, each in turn spoke of their observations.

"John never seems to go far from his quarters, center chamber, and Pilot's Den. He never goes to the hanger or near those areas anymore." Chiana noted. "He's even stopped coming up to Command within the last weeken."

"I have also seen him break out into a sweat for no reason any time I mention going to the Terrace," Aeryn added. "He used to spend so much time there. It was his our favorite place on Moya."

"You know, it is not uncommon for people who have been traumatized to suddenly have irrational fears," Jool stated pedantically. "Crichton seems to be showing the classic features of panic attacks and anxiety. I think he is afraid to go off Moya."

"I have also smelled the fear on him when asked to do anything near the prowler." D'Argo fingered his knife on his waist and looked around at his friends. "I think we should force Crichton to face his fears."

"I think that would be a disaster. You know how stubborn he gets, D'Argo. We are not dealing with a warrior or a Luxan here. John is different. It might force him deeper into this dren-eating mess he's gotten himself into." Chiana said pushing on D'Argo's shoulder to soften her words.

Jool looked at each of crew, feeling unsure of how they would perceive what she was about to say, "I have an idea, Pilot has located Arnessk from the coordinates I found on the Command Carrier. You all know that my people have a dig site there when the magnetics are within tolerable levels, and I want to go there while I have a chance." She looked at the others, expecting a remark about her leaving, but they surprisingly said nothing. Taking a deep breath, Jool continued, "Pilot has contacted Instructor Vella and she says I am welcome to join them. I think this may be something that may interest Crichton enough to go down to the planet since there are definitely no Peacekeepers on the planet."

"Princess, for once you have a great idea. I think that is just the thing to snap John out of his fears." Chiana said, suddenly hopeful. "Who's gonna convince the Old Man that this is good for him?" Chiana, D'Argo, and Jool looked straight at Aeryn. Aeryn sighed and agreed.

PART 5

Keeping each piece's position locked in his mind, John lightly moved his trembling hand over the top of the magnetized chess pieces. Since Chiana had surprised him with the improved board, he found himself enjoying the game once more, and with both the board and the men magnetized he wasn't scurrying around for missing pieces most of the time. So engrossed in the game, he jumped when suddenly he heard someone enter the room.

"So is she ready to go down yet?" he asked (when he recognized Aeryn's distinctive movements), still disappointed that Jool was leaving the ship.

He heard a slightly rustling of clothing across the room before Aeryn answered, "Yes, she is, but she is waiting on you in the hanger."

Even hearing Aeryn say the word hanger made John's pulse quicken. "She couldn't have stopped by here on the way out?"

"She said she had too many things to think about at the moment. I think you should go to her."

Knowing Aeryn would figure out something was wrong with him, he sighed in resignation. Reaching for Pax's leash, John stood up shakily, "Alright let's go."

"I'll lead you this time. She said she's in a hurry for some reason. Pax can follow behind." Aeryn said, taking his arm giving him no choice in the matter.

During the walk to the hanger, John had to concentrate on his breathing. 'It's only saying goodbye to Jool.' he told himself. He heard the others voices as he and Aeryn neared the hanger and he felt his legs grow weak.

Stumbling slightly, he felt Aeryn's grip tighten as she held on and kept him from falling to the floor. "John, are you all right?"

Nodding his head, he said, "I'm fine Aeryn-it was just another muscle spasm. It caught me off guard."

He knew to the microt when they stepped through the hanger doors. The other's voices reverberated slightly off of the walls back to his ears. 'Breath slowly, damn you - breath slowly.' he kept repeating over and over again.

"JohnI see you finally decided to get off your eema and get down here." Jool said.

Facing in the direction of her voice, John forced himself to laugh as he said, "Well, it's not as if you gave me any choice, since you didn't stop by my room." He felt Aeryn's hand leave his arm for a moment and it suddenly felt as if the walls were constricting, trying to crush him as he stood before the others. 'Breath slowly.' He could feel himself beginning to break out in a sweat. 'God I hope the others don't notice'

Reaching out his hand, John said, "Come here Princess." he felt her hand touch his own and he felt slightly better as he wrapped his arms around her in a hug. "I'm going to miss you girl."

"I think you will have a couple of more days before you miss her John," D'Argo said.

Standing up straight, John kept his hands around Jool's waist, he asked. "What do you mean by that?"

"We all believe you have been cooped up on this ship for too long Old Man. You're going down to the planet with us." Chiana's chipper voice said from across the room.

"Yes, you said once that Human's need nutrients provided by sunlight. We think you would benefit from going down to Arnessk while the magnetics are still within safe levels." D'Argo said, his voice surprisingly close to John.

Backing away from Jool, John let out a shrill whistle calling Pax. "Sorry, wish I could go. I've got a lot of work to do on DRDs."

John tried to control the rising panic as he felt the soft bump of the DRD against his foot. Bending down, he searched for the leash that would lead him away from the others.

He could hear D'Argo's heavy step as he came closer. "John, you need the fresh air for your own health."

"Fresh air? Fresh air is what got me in this frelling mess." he couldn't help the bitter laugh that escaped him. He jumped when he felt two hands on his shoulders.

Aeryn's voice close to his ear tried to sooth him as she spoke, "There is another reason for you to go down to the planet. We have all seen the way you become frightened at even the notion of being away from Moya. It is admirable that you have fought these feelings, but it appears you are losing the fight while doing it alone. We decided it is time for us to step in and help you."

As she spoke, the tightness in his chest increased and by the time she finished speaking, he found he could barely breath. Shaking his head, he tried to get away from Aeryn's hands. He had to get out of the hanger and away from the others. He couldn't go down to the planet. Falling to the floor, he grabbed his chest, his breathing becoming even more ragged.

He felt several pairs of hands on his body as Aeryn's frightened voice reached his ears as if in a echoing chamber, "John, are you all right! Talk to me!"

Struggling to catch his breath, he croaked out, "I can't-can't go-have to stay-stay here" He tried to tell them why he couldn't go, but he was no longer able to speak. The only noises coming from him were the wheezing sounds of his breath escaping his constricted lungs.

"Jool, do you have the tranquilizer?" Aeryn said loudly.

"Yes"

"Well, then frelling use it!"

John barely felt the chill from the injector against his neck before he heard the soft hiss of the medication rushing into him. Just before losing consciousness, he thought, 'Thank god, I can breath now. Then, frell!'

Part 6

Landing the transport pod easily on the dry rocky outcrop near the dig site. Jool immediately rushed out the door in search of Instructor Vella to announce their arrival. D'Argo surveyed the scene for a microt from the doorway of the ship as Aeryn tried to revive Crichton. From appearances, the ruins themselves lay mostly underground or along the coastal plateau. The sky was an unnatural blue-gray without sun or clouds. The ocean could be heard in the distance roaring as it crashed upon the rocks hundreds of motres below them.

"D'Argo, the tranquilizer is still having a strong effect on John. We can wait for him to revive in your ship, but I have a feeling he is going to fight us once he awakens." Aeryn said after a few microts.

Turning at the sound of her voice, D'Argo said, "No, if he starts thrashing around, he might accidentally hurt himself. I will carry him where it will be safe for him to wake up." Walking back inside the ship, D'Argo reached down and picked up his unconscious friend.

Chiana commented as she brushed back John's hair, "He's going to be more pissed than a draznak over what we did when he wakes up."

Silently agreeing, D'Argo followed the two women out of the pod. Being careful as he walked across the rocks, D'Argo searched for any sign of Jool. Spotting her flaming red hair in the distance, he, Aeryn, and a silent Chiana turned in her direction and followed her down into an underground tunnel.

Aeryn and Chiana walked ahead of him as he carried John. Every few moments, the man would mumble in his sleep and D'Argo noticed the trembling was beginning to increase as the medication wore off.

He gently settled John on the ground next to a roughly hewed wall filled with frescoes and some sort of writing and turned to face the Interons already talking intently to Jool, Aeryn, and Chiana. It slightly worried him that Noranti had wondered off somewhere already, but he put it out of his mind as he studied his crewmates and the archeological staff. Thankful that Rygel had decided to remain on Moya, stating that he had no interest in dead cultures or Interions.

Jool, already fairly bouncing with excitement called out to D'Argo, "D'Argo, this is Instructor Vella. Director of one of the most important archeological sites that my race has known, she and her staff have uncovered a countless array of amazing artifacts here, dating back thousands of cycles."

D'Argo couldn't help smiling at her infectious enthusiasm, he was happy that Jool had found some of her own race and she felt like she had a purpose once again. Turning to the imperious-looking older Interion female, "Instructor Vella, I would like to offer my thanks to you for allowing Jool to continue her studies, and for allowing us a couple of solar days to say our goodbyes."

Vella glanced towards D'Argo, sniffed and looked away. It was quite apparent what she thought of Luxans. Right at that moment, D'argo heard a scuffling behind him and turned sharply towards where John lay supine next to the wall. Aeryn and Chiana heard the noise and turned at the same time to see John roll over and push up with his arms, shaking his head

"Wha-What was in that mickey? My head feels like the Liberty Bell on the 4th of July." By this time, John had managed to pull himself up and was leaning his back and head against the wall with his eyes closed. Suddenly he sat up stiffly, cocking his head slightly as if listening, his panicked voice calling out, "Aeryn! D'Argo, Chiana!" Reaching his hand out onto the ground, he scooped up a handful of dirt, "Where the hell am I? Will someone answer me?"

Crouching beside the Human, D'Argo said quietly, "John, remember we were all coming down to Arnessk to say goodbye to Jool and we brought you along. You are in one of the tunnels of Instructor Vella's dig site."

Aeryn's hand slipped into John's as he said, "You brought me down to a planet to take me underground?" His breathing began to come more rapidly the longer he sat against the rock wall.

"Control your breathing John. You are going to be fine." Aeryn said as his hand jerked in her own.

Sweat beaded John's forehead that he had lowered to avert his sudden need to throw up. He could feel the heat rising to his cheeks and the frelling pain traveling down his trembling arms. "Dammit, I told you I couldn't come down here!" he yelled as he lifted his head seeking out his friends. He couldn't believe they shanghaied him against his will. He pushed himself up the wall until he was standing and took a step, swinging as he moved. He hit D'Argo in the chest and the Luxan reflexively grabbed his arms to stop him from breaking the myriad of artifacts stacked on shelves near where John had been sitting.

"John, stop it! Calm down! You know you had to leave Moya. You have to conquer this irrational fear. Nothing is going to happen." Aeryn touched her lover's shoulder while he remained in D'Argo's hands.

"Aeryn, I ca-can't do this. Don't make me do this. I. Can't. See!" John screamed shrugging his shoulders roughly to remove Aeryn's and D'Argo's hands. When both crewmates released him, he restlessly moved outward towards where the air felt less closed in.

Vella turned towards Crichton and spoke for the first time. "Who is this Peacekeeper?"

Jool responded deferentially, "John Crichton, a friend. He is not a Peacekeeper. He was injured several monens ago and we thought his health would benefit from being on a planet. He will not cause you any trouble."

"I do not need such an obviously damaged and inferior being trampling around in my facility," Vella responded. "Joolushko, you have been consorting with people who are your intellectual inferiors. If you want to work with me, you will need to separate yourself from these emotional beings and concentrate on your studies."

Jool bowed her head in acquiescence, and glancing at D'Argo as if to apologize, she followed Vella as she left the center chamber.

John wiped the sweat from his brow with the bottom of his t-shirt while calling out, "Guys, are you still here? I need to return to Moya, Now!" He turned to where he heard the rustling of Aeryn's duster, and lowering his voice for Aeryn's ears only, whispered, "The room is closing in on me. Help me, babe. I need you. You've got to get me out of here."

Aeryn indicated to Chiana and D'Argo that they should make themselves scarce and gently placed her hands on John's face, turning his head towards her own. She said quietly, "John, listen to me. I will be near your side at all times. I will do my best to help you overcome this fear, we all will, but you will not be alone."

John bent his forehead and touched Aeryn's brow, "Okay, babe. I'll try. I know I have to fight this thing. It's just really hard." John could feel his heart beat settle and the pain in his chest subside as he stood and told himself that Aeryn was right and that he needed to face these fears with strength. He straightened his shoulders, and said more calmly than he felt, "Tell me about this place to get my mind off my stomach it feels like it's gonna play Vesuvius on me." He grinned crookedly and swallowed to clear the bile that he felt rising in his throat. "What's this dren about ancient priests I heard Jool babbling about while I was lying there?"

Taking John by the hand, she said, "Let's find Jool and she can tell you herself. You know I can't explain all that science dren."

It turned out that Jool could not be found anywhere near the central chamber, so Aeryn and John spent the remainder of the day wandering around the dig. John's phobia about wide-open places continued to plague him, making any passage-way that crossed an open area an exercise in self control.

Aeryn lead John through corridors that were partially submerged. Her flashlight sending beams along brightly painted frescoes that shimmered in the illumination, "John, I wish you could see these drawings. They are amazing, full of life-aquatic monsters with eight, nine, ten arms and many eyes on stalks in purples swimming in blues, and reds; green and brown sea plants waving and undulating; red-robed aliens and horned animals on sacrificial alters-all of the paintings cover the walls. Doing the best that she could to describe the images before her, Aeryn could see that John was still having to struggle from his fear and panic. Periodically, she would place John's fingers on a three-dimensional carving and described its contours for him. His head slightly bowed down, John's eyes didn't even look in her direction as she spoke to him. A sad smile played on the edges of his lips and he nodded at the appropriate moment when she paused. Aeryn knew that John's entire life before they had met had been about discovering new wonders and sights, but now he was left behind. Hoping to distract him from his worries, Aeryn could see her efforts were failing. In fact, she suspected, they were making him feel even worse.

She watched as John continued to fight the irrational fear that kept trying to dominate him. Each time they crossed an expanse open to the sky, John breathing would quicken and he broke out into a sweat. The trembling in his hands would worsen as he attempted to tighten them into fists, cursing himself over his own stupidity.

Just as it seemed he had himself in control, John cried out as he felt the wind tear through his thin shirt and he heard the waves crashing on the rocks, "Aeryn, wait! I can't go there." His face was white as a sheet, sweat dripped from his brow and his hands shook with anxiety as he grabbed hold of the door frame and Aeryn's arm. She had to pry his fingers off and pull him gently into the center of the area that bordered the rocks and shoreline.

"John, your panic has to stop. There is nothing here that can harm you. See, sit here and listen to the waves and feel the wind in your hair. I will sit right next to you. Aeryn guided John to a flattened stone lying exposed in the open area of the courtyard. He gingerly sat down and closed his eyes and leaned his head back to try and relax into the many sounds and smells of the outdoors. Aeryn didn't know how John was able to continue on as he did, if their roles were reversed, she was sure that a set back such as these panic attacks would be the end of her. Her own brief interlude of blindness less than three cycles before made her painfully aware of the horrors of his world at the moment.

Turning his head in her direction, "Aeryn, I think I do feel a little better." John pronounced, his voice still a little shaky.

Tarnat silently watched the two alleged Peacekeepers as they settled down in the courtyard. He rapidly approached them with his molecular carver at ready on his arm. He pointed it at Aeryn and John and declared, "You are not wanted here, Peacekeepers." Aeryn immediately rose up and pointed her pulse pistol at the Interion assistant.

"First, we are not Peacekeepers. Second, we have done nothing wrong. And third, it is not nice to point guns at people." With that, she swung her pistol grip-first at the mans face, knocking him to the ground. Tarnat pushed himself to his feet, wiping the blood off his split lip, and exclaimed as he left the area, "I will report this unprovoked attack to Instructor Vella."

"Good, you do that," Aeryn replied calmly, while holstering her weapon.

While all this was happening, John had backed away until he felt a wall, and tucking his knees up, circled his legs with his arms seeking to combat the extreme nausea his fear provoked. He felt helpless. First, he could not provide a back up as was his duty to a friend and lover. Worst of all, he had no idea where he was or how to either come to Aeryn's rescue or escape and summon help, should that become necessary. All he could do was sit there and shake and sweat. "I am so screwed," he thought to himself as he hugged his knees tighter to his body and placed his chin down.

Aeryn crouched down next to John and placed her hand gently on his bent shoulder. "John, it is all right to feel like you do. We will figure out a way to give you the tools to protect yourself. You will not be helpless for long. Please believe me." John shuddered and leaned his head against his lover's hand.

"Did I tell you today how much you rocked?" He whispered.

"How can I 'rock' Human?" Aeryn said with a smile in her voice. "There are rocks all around us." John allowed himself a small smile and reached out his hand for help up. Aeryn again had managed to shake him out of his depression.

"Lets go find D'Argo and Chiana and see what trouble they are getting into," John said as he grasped Aeryn's elbow.

Jool had found D'Argo and Chiana and had begun showing them how the molecular carver worked to remove the cycles of dirt and debris carefully from an artifact without damaging its surface. "You point the nozzle at the area you wish to clean or remove and use your thumb to turn on the device, like so." Jool pointed the tool at the wall and gently cleared away some obstructing dust to reveal the beautiful sea creature painted there. "Here, you try it." Jool passed the tool to D'Argo and showed him how to place it on his arm.

D'Argo pointed the tool at the ground and pressed the switch. The resulting beam hit a rock and it disappeared into molecular-sized dust. "Frell," he exclaimed.

"Double-frell," chimed in Chiana at his shoulder.

"Luxan, you are not authorized to use such a sophisticated device," exclaimed Vella as she grabbed the tool from off his arm. "I cannot have you damaging precious research with your ignorant ways."

Vella was silent for a moment, looking at each of the crew before her, finally she said, "I have researched who you are, and I do not want known criminals wandering around freely. Joolushko, if you wish to work under my guidance, I expect you to make your farewells promptly so that these people leave this planet."

"Yes, Instructor Vella," said Jool as she looked sadly at D'Argo and Chiana. "I think you should leave as soon as possible."

Chiana replied, "There is no way in hezmana I am staying here one microt longer than I have to, anyway. Princess, this is your party, not mine." With that statement, Chiana sauntered off back toward the transport pod. D'Argo followed closely behind.

Tarnat stepped up to Vella as she was inspecting a beautiful vase painted in red slip on white with undulating sea creatures and dancing figures in hoods. "Instructor Vella, I have just been attacked by the Peacekeeper female."

Vella frowned, stating, "That is just as I suspected. These criminals will destroy our work with their violent ways and ignorant stumbling behavior." Giving Tarnat the vase she held in her hand, she said, "Continue here. I will see that they pose no more trouble with our efforts." Vella walked out of the cavern and to her temporary quarters. Crossing the room over to her communications array and began touching various switches, sending out a communication for help with her problem.

"Your communication is being received on a authorized secure channel. State your business." A female's voice answered.

"This is Instructor Vella, director of the Arnessk archeological dig. I have been assured by Peacekeeper High Command that my work will not be interrupted by any intrusions from any outside interference. Several criminals have arrived on Arnessk and are causing damage to our work. The criminals John Crichton, Aeryn Sun, a Ka DArgo, and Chiana are currently planet side. I wish them removed from this dig immediately."

"Hold for consideration of your request."

Commandant Grayza watched as Braca entered into her office, "Ma'am, we received this transmission sixty microts ago," he said, hold out a data chip in his hand.

Listening to it play, a smug smile began to play on her lips. "How long will it take the Command Carrier to arrive at Arnessk?"

"Ten arns," Braca said, his back rigid as he stared straight ahead of him.

Grayza glanced at her second-in command, Braca and smiled. "Make it five. Inform her that I will personally see that these criminals apprehended and her vital work will no longer be interrupted." Crossing her arms, she looked at the Lieutenant. "Prepare a Marauder for immediate departure once we are in range of the planet."

Nodding his head Braca said, "Yes Ma'am, immediately."

Aeryn and John continued to wander the archeological dig, sticking to the more enclosed areas where John felt most secure. After their confrontation with Tarnat, Aeryn commed D'Argo and Chiana to inform them and heard of their own argument with Vella.

Sitting in a small enclave while eating, Aeryn waited on word from Jool on whether she had been able secure enough food supplies to last until the next commerce planet. When finally Jool's voice came over the comm, Aeryn was surprised to hear her say, "Instructor Vella has seen reason, and said that she will allow you to remain on Arnessk for one more day. Their supply transport will arrive sometime within the next five to ten arns."

John took a bite of his food and shook his head, swallowing the mouthful, he said, "Vella doesn't strike me as the type to change her mind like that, I think we should go ahead and wait on Moya."

Aeryn looked at John and knew he was trying to find any excuse to leave the planet. "It will be fine, John, but I will go along with what the others say." She watched as John's shoulders slumped when D'Argo and Chiana both agreed to stay until the supplies arrived.

Although Jool remained with the Interons, DArgo, Chiana, John, and Aeryn slept on or near the transport pod that night. They hadn't seen the old woman the entire day, but nobody worried too much about her whereabouts.

The next day dawned clear and very bright.

All the previous day and all night, and now for a second day, Noranti wondered happily through the ancient compound whispering, "The priests, the priests know the secret - Arnessk is the key." She nodded her head, her third eye glowing blue in the semi-darkness of the corridor, "Three races existing in harmony; three peoples were one. Crichton must see the peace, feel the peace." She grabbed an insect off the wall and breaking it in two, she smeared its blood into some herbs that she had removed from one of the multitude of pouches she had secreted on her body. She spat on the mixture and used her finger to create a paste. "Crichton is the key. Yes, Crichton must feel the peace. See the peace. His child will be the peace."

Jool watched as Aeryn guided Crichton to where she stood in the courtyard of one of the many palace-like rooms. "Oh, John, you have to feel this fresco. I can't believe what Vella has discovered here!" Jool's hair flamed red with her excitement as she took John's arm from Aeryn's hold and guided his hand to a marking on one of the walls. "Twelve thousand cycles ago this planet was a paradise. Priests lived here and kept the peace between the Scarrans and Peacekeepers that lasted for five hundred generations. No one knows how they achieved this, because one day, they just vanished." Aeryn watched as John traced the drawing on the wall with his finger.

"What's this I'm feeling, Jool?" John tilted his head trying to figure out what his fingers felt on the wall. "Describe it to me, will you?"

"It looks like an open eye with an eyebrow. On the bottom of the eye, flowing to the left is a wing-like structure and to the right is a curl." Jool stated.

"Where have I seen that before?" John wracked his brain for the answer. He knew he had seen that symbol somewhere. He loved antiquities and rambling around museums. He remembered his first visit to a museum. His dad had taken him and his sisters to the Walters Art Museum in Baltimore when they lived in Annapolis, Maryland. He must have been about ten years old. He remembered running from one exhibit of Egyptian hieroglyphics to another of a mummy-between each and every one of the ancient sculptures and artifacts, his eyes growing ever wider with amazement at the ancient sciences; although he remembered that he really hated the post-impressionist art that his sisters insisted on dragging them to see on that trip and others. That was it! The symbol was the Eye of Ra. He had seen it numerous times over the years in many other museums he had visited.

"What the frell! What's an Egyptian peace symbol doing in the Uncharted Territories?" He asked out loud, the surprise and awe apparent in his voice. It had been a long time since John's scientific curiosity had been so intrigued. He loved a mystery. He grinned without realizing it, but Aeryn caught his expression and finally relaxed. It seemed they had done the right thing by bringing John down to this planet after all.

John felt Jool's excitement in the tremors that ran from Jool's hand into his own as he continued to speak. "Could humans have made it space in the past? Jool, that symbol comes from an ancient people called the Egyptians on Earth. Their civilization existed almost five thousand years, er cycles, ago."

Jool stared at amazement at Crichton. If John was right, then one of the symbols found on the walls of Arnessk was from his home planet. "John, I want you to feel these two other symbols," as she guided John's fingers over the frescos on the wall. "One is Interon and the other is Sebecean. Both mean peace." John nodded his head and grinned widely.

"Jool, what if humans were the third race protected by the priests here on Arnessk? If I remember my mythology, the Eye of Ra was worn and worshiped by the Egyptians because it signified the return to balance and harmony in the universe. This is so cool!" John was becoming as excited as Jool at the mystery of the writings on the wall. He had forgotten all about his fears and joined in the intellectual game.

Noranti watched from behind a pillar as Jool and John shared their information and excitement while Aeryn looked on from the sidelines making sure that her lover was safe. Noranti closed her eyes and appeared to fall into a trance. "The Eye of Horus and the Eye of Ra united complete the vision of Osiris, god of peace and prosperity. One is of the moon and the other of the sun and both are needed to return the universe to harmony. Yes, this is the proper place and time. All is set in motion and nothing can stop it," she whispered. She opened her third eye independently as the other two remained closed. Nodding her head as agreeing with a silent message, she smiled. Now she just had to get him alone to begin his testing.

"Come on, John, we have to give this information to Instructor Vella." Jool grabbed John's arm and lead him quickly towards the center courtyard, leaving Aeryn to follow more slowly behind.

Jool dragged a breathless John into the central chamber. As John protested that he needed to catch his breath, Aeryn caught up with the pair. Jool lead John to a wall where he could rest safely while she went to fetch Vella. Aeryn wandered around the chamber, picking up and putting down various artifacts that met her fancy.

John called out, "Aeryn, are you here? Isn't this neat. Could there be human artifacts in this room?" He stood up and reaching out, brushed his arm on to a nearby shelf causing a series of vases and cups to come crashing on to the floor. Just at the moment of impact, Vella marched into the room.

Startled by the noise and flying debris, John swung his arms around seeking to identify the cause. "John, be careful!" Aeryn called out as she dived towards him to push him out of the way of the shrapnel, without success. Chips of pottery grazed and scratched his face and arms as he stumbled over the broken pieces on the floor and fell in front of the Instructor's feet.

"Clumsy fool! Look what you have done. You are nothing more than a wild grobask who belongs in a cage!" Vella hissed as she looked down at him. "I have allowed you to interfere for too long as it is. I knew your damaged inferior abilities would be a disaster, and I am proven right. You have just destroyed thousands of cycles of antiquity with your blind mucking about. "Speaking into her comm, she said," Tarnat, come and remove this animal from my dig site and see that he does no more damage."

Jool stared at Vella in surprise at her outburst. In her time aboard Moya, Jool knew that she had changed and had forgotten the intense racism projected by her people. Once she had the same outlook, but now she found the idea utterly revolting. She looked down at her hands in embarrassment over her own teacher. Jool looked up at the older Interion female, her voice quiet at first but with each word grew stronger, "Instructor Vella, John Crichton is my friend. If you insult him, then you insult me as well. I cannot work with you under these conditions. We will leave as soon as we can."

Instructor Vella returned her stare for a moment, turning her back said, "So be it. But that does not change my order." Turning to her assistant who had arrived carrying the Interion molecular carver he used as a weapon, she said, "Remove the animal, secure him where he can do no more damage until he and his companions leave."

Aeryn moved to stand in front of John, who at that moment was pulling himself slowly to his feel, his embarrassment over the situation and Vella's words plainly etched in his face. "Jool, take John to a safe place near the transport pod. I will follow you shortly."

Taking John by the hand, Jool said reassuringly as she led him toward the exit of the tunnel, "Do not listen to her, John, she's nothing but a xenophobic bitch, and I'm ashamed to have wanted to study with her."

Unable to keep the regret from his voice, John said. "It's not your fault, Jool it's mine. I should have been more careful."

Aeryn watched Jool lead John out of the ruins, her control over her anger at Vella's words completely slipping away. Running at Tarnat who began moving in John's direction and, she delivered a pantak jab to his throat, knocking him unconscious. She then swiftly shoved Vella against the wall, knocking another shelf of artifacts on to the floor where their thousands of flying shards cut both her's and the surprised Interon's face and arms.

She held Vella up by her throat and snarled, "If you ever threaten, frellif you even look at John or my friends the wrong way, I 'will' kill you." With that, she choked the Interon into unconsciousness and rapidly followed Jool and Crichton out of the room.

Stopping some distance from the cliff wall, Aeryn spied Jool and John. "Jool, I'm here now and will help Crichton. Go find D'Argo and Chiana and tell them we are leaving as soon as possible." Aeryn could see John was upset by Vella's words and she took his arm and led him out by the rocks, "Here, sit down for a microt."

John's hand immediately went out as he felt for the ground. He sat in silence for a long time, his chin propped against his bent knees and stared out against the darkness of his world. It worried her that he so quickly fell back into a state of depression over a strangers words, but she knew that he needed to work these things out for himself.

Turning his head in her direction, John said, "I'm sorry Aeryn I didn't mean"

Taking his chin into her hand, she turned his face toward her own, "I want you to ignore what that trelk said. You are not to be locked or 'secured' away for your own safe keeping. She needs to set her priorities a little higher if she thinks her artifacts are more valuable than anyone else. Now No more apologies for something that could not be helped. Am I understood?"

Smiling, John nodded his head in agreement, "Just wish I could have seen you knock the dren out of her." He said with a slight chuckle, suddenly he turned his head away from her, "Someone's here "

Twisting her body slightly, Aeryn saw the old woman come walking up with a smile on her face. "Aeryn, I must congratulate you."

"For what?"

"For punishing Vella - she has so much to injustice to answer for."

Shaking her head, Aeryn turned her attention back to John as he said quietly, "What in the heck is she talking about?"

Whispering back, "I have no frelling idea, I have yet to figure her out."

At that moment, Aeryn spotted D'Argo approaching, she didn't like the look on his face and stood up to meet him. Walking a few feet away from where John sat, D'Argo said, "Either someone frelled with the transport pod or the magnetics are interfering with the start up drives. We're stuck here for a few arns while I repair them."

Sighing in frustration, she asked quietly, "Do you need any help?" She was reluctant to tell John that their departure would be delayed, and she wanted him off of this rock as soon as possible.

Shaking his head, D'Argo responded, "No, the girls are already helping find a few conductors I will need, and I'm going to see if I can find some wiring, but I should be able to do the repairs myself rather quickly."

Nodding in agreement she whispered, "Do not tell John you think someone sabotaged the ship."

D'Argo quickly turned away from her to begin finding the wiring he needed. Looking at John, Aeryn tried to think of a way to keep him occupied until the repairs were completed. Squatting down next to him, she said, "D'Argo thinks the rising magnetics are interfering with the pod's wiring in the start up drive. He's gone to find replacement wire, but it will be a few arns before we can leave."

Sighing, John said, "So we're stuck here, huh?"

"Yes, but only for a few arns like I said." Thinking for a moment, she realized they had not eaten since early morning, "It's been several arns since ate First Meal - are you hungry?"

"Now that you mention it, yeah, I am." John began to stand up.

Putting her hand on his shoulder, "No, you sit here. I'll go to the transport pod and get us something to eat and drink." Looking over at Noranti she asked, "Will you keep him company while I do this?"

"Of course, we have much to talk about."

Panic immediately set clutched around his heart, "No! Aeryn, please don't leave me here with the old woman - why don't you send her for the food. You-you said you wouldn't leave me."

Distressed by his reaction, she touched the side of his face "John, I am not. The transport pod is only a few motres from here, on the other side of this hill. Nothing is going to happen. Remember, you have to keep facing this fear you have. It's only for a few microts and I have a little surprise for you." With Pilot's help, she had gone through the data stores and found almost all of the occurrences where the DRDs had recorded John's annoying whistling. Using that information, Aeryn had created a musical device that played those songs for him. Hoping she had recorded the music correctly, Aeryn couldn't wait to see the look on John's face when he heard it.

Leaning into the comfort of Aeryn's hand, John tried to unsuccessfully to control the shaking in his own as he reached his own up to to touch her face., Knowing Aeryn was right, he finally agreed, "Fine. Just don't be too long, she wigs me out."

"I won't be." Standing up, she turned to the old woman, "Do not let anything happen to him while I'm gone."

"He will be fine all of you will."

Ignoring the remark, Aeryn turned in the direction of the transport pod, "Behave yourself, John!" She called out before she went too far.

Putting on a brave face, despite his rising fear, "Oh, you know I will." He said laughing, "I always do."

He felt the wind as it came off of the sea, tilting his head, John imagined what the water splashing on the cliffside looked like. A scrape against the rocks beside him let him know the old woman had sat down close to him.

He felt uneasy just sitting out in the open, with no familiar point of reference, he needed to do something to take his mind off of the fact he wasn't surrounded by Moya's comforting walls, "So old woman, you know, I can't just keep calling you that. What's your name?"

"I go by many names, but you may call me Utu-Noranti Pralatong."

"Noranti has a nice sound to it. So, you wanna play charades?"

Noranti reached into her pouch and removed the herbal mixture she had earlier created with the Arnessk insect blood blew the now dusty mixture into John's face, she chanted "See the peace in the eye of a child - dream of peace in the midst of the whirlwind."

John yelled as he felt the stinging in his eyes, "Frell, not again old woman!"

Noranti watched as John's eyes rolled up into his head so that only the whites showed.

John stood and spun around, he was both surprised and frightened to see the world that Aeryn had been doing her best to describe for him. Only this was too new, he knew that it was only another vision induced by the old woman. He watched as a dozen red-robed priests danced and sang, as another red-gowned priest prepared to slaughter a goat-like creature. He stared in awe as Scarrans, Sebacean, Egyptian, and Interions stood in the background and sang celebratory songs as the beast died. The sky glowed amber and the wind blew the vision away to show another. John saw himself bending down and examining a child's block tile etched with symbols he suspected were the same as he felt on the walls of the ruins.

"The Eye of Ra," he whispered. "Peace and harmony when the universe is united." The words fell from his lips as he lost his balance and stumbled, his hands striking the rocks microts before he lost consciousness.

Noranti smiled, happy that Crichton had survived the first step in the testing process. She gently removed the child's block from the Human's cut fingers and examined its etchings. It amazed her that he had been able to find and dig out the object in his induced vision, and knew it was a positive sign that John Crichton was indeed the one they had sought for many cycles. Her third eye now glowed an eerie magenta in the magnetized air of Arnessk.

Aeryn marched up the hill that hid the transport pod from the archeological site. When she reached the top of the hill, she looked down in horror at the silent tableau. There on the ground surrounded by Peacekeeper soldiers was an unconscious John, hands shackled behind his back. Standing nearby also secured in manacles was Noranti. And finally, hands on her hips stood Mele-on Grayza, the Commandant the crew of Moya had run into on the Command Carrier nearly half a cycle before. Aeryn had no chance to react or protect herself as she reached for her weapon, she heard a high pitched hum of a pulse rifle charging, "Do not move Officer Sun, not if you value Crichton's life." Turning, she found herself facing several soldiers, each with their weapons trained upon her. She had no choice but to surrender her weapon and submit to the soldiers. As she was roughly pushed into place next to Noranti she urgently whispered, "I told you to take care of him."

Noranti gazed at Aeryn and said, "He is safe, as are you. All is within the plan."

"You are insane," Aeryn stated and looked away, knowing she would gain no help from the witch for any help in formulating a plan.

Instructor Vella and Tarnat looked on with satisfaction as the Peacekeepers took the criminals into custody. Tarnat didn't turned away from the scene before him as he said, "It is too bad that Joolushko was such a disappointment. She would have been valuable to your research, Instructor."

Walking up to the Commandant, Vella stated officiously, "Thank you for bringing order back to this dig. I appreciate your rapid arrival and efficiency. I am glad I was able to be of service to bring such dangerous criminals to justice."

Graya nodded her head in the direction of the Instructor, she said, "High Command will be most grateful for your quick thinking and bravery in dealing with them. Do 'not' be surprised to receive a very large reward for your service."

Tarnat walked by the now secured Aeryn and deliberately spat into her face. Aeryn felt the spittle drip down her cheek without any way to remove it since her hands were secured behind her back. She simply stood in stony silence, watching as the Interons returned to the underground chambers.

Grayza strode up to where the soldiers were guarding John's unconscious body. She ordered two of the soldiers to lift him up and wake him.

John felt like his arms would be torn from their sockets as he tried to get his feet back underneath him and stop the pain. He shook his head to clear the dregs of Noranti's drug from his system. He discovered his hands were secured behind his back when he tried to wipe the sweat dripping from his face. "Aeryn, Noranti, anybody?" he called as he desperately tried to figure out his new predicament. He could hear several sets of footsteps around him, but he didn't recognize anyone's movements.

"Well, John Crichton. I guess this is what comes of pointing guns at people," Grayza stated as she looked more closely at the still disoriented man. John located Grayza by the direction of her voice, and said, "Grayza? I should have known my luck would never hold."

She noticed the way Crichton's eyes did not seem to focus, and he had not known where Sun or the old woman were located near him. "What is wrong with you?" Grayza demanded.

"Small touch of blindness," John replied.

Grayza looked to Aeryn for an explanation. Aeryn stared at the Commandant and merely said, "Explosive decompression a few monens ago."

"No matter. Bring them," she ordered the soldiers guarding the prisoners.

The hands on his forearms gripped them painfully and gruff voices told him to hurry or they would drag him. He stumbled on the rough ground.

"John, steady. I'm right next to you," Aeryn called to John as she watched his difficulties keeping up with his captors. She grunted in pain as the soldier escorting her slammed his rifle but into her side. Her cry echoed in John's ears and added to his extreme anxiety and frustration. He struggled in his captors hands, but could not get loose to help Aeryn (nor locate her amidst his panic and the residues of Noranti's dust clogging his nose and mind). He hung his head and trudged on where the soldiers lead him.

The three prisoners sat uncomfortably on the floor of the detention cell of the marauder. Aeryn leaned her head on John's shoulder providing comfort to both herself and her stricken lover. John kept mumbling over and over again, "Shoulda, coulda, ca't." With her hands fastened tightly behind her back all Aeryn could do was croon over and over again, "Calm, John, calm." Noranti sat with her eyes closed deep in a trance and took no notice of her surroundings. Hours passed in this fashion as the ship raced back to its Command Carrier home and disaster.

John, Aeryn, and Noranti were marched down the marauder's exit ramp and into the cavernous hanger bay. There, surrounded by soldiers and still secured, the faced Grayza and Braca, now her second-in-command.

"John Crichton, I see you have been taken down a peg," Braca sneered.

"Braca! I'm surprised you are still here. I would have thought you'd have died licking Scorpy's boots. I guess it is true that there is no loyalty among Peacekeepers," John replied in the direction of the voice.

Grayza's arm forestalled Braca physically attacking John. She stood in front of the prisoners and asked, "Where is Scorpius?

"Don't know. Don't care," John responded. Aeryn nodded her head in agreement. Noranti said nothing.

"Very well. You are to be tried as saboteurs and executed for the destruction of the Command Carrier." Grayza turned smartly and exited the hanger bay with Braca following closely after her.

The guards closed in on John, who began to twist frantically seeking to protect himself or at least locate Aeryn in the echoing darkness. Aeryn stepped in front of John and kicked out sharply at the first guards groin with her leg, making a loud smack as she connected. The soldier went down. She turned to the second soldier, but was too late to stop John from trying to head butt him and missing. The guard put an end to John's struggle with a crack of his rifle to John's skull. Aeryn could do nothing to rescue John as his unconscious body was dragged off because of the pulse pistol of the third guard that was pointed at her head.

She and Noranti submitted to be pushed and prodded down the hallways of the Carrier towards the detention cells. She was surprised when Noranti was placed in her cell. She slid down and sat against a wall and chewed on her thumb in unconscious mimicry of her lovers habit. Noranti sat against the opposite wall and rocked back and forth, singing sub-vocally, "Peace will come from chaos and pain. He must learn. He must face the darkness and succeed. She must learn. She must be strong for him and for the future. She is his rock and anchor."

Hours passed without a visitor. "Shut up, old woman!" Aeryn cried out as Noranti continued her mumbling and chanting. "What is happening to John? I have to figure out a plan."

Part 7

John's unconscious body was thrust unceremoniously into the detention cell. Hitting the floor and sliding across the slick surface, his skull narrowly missed hitting the bulkhead. Surveillance cameras blinked in the bright white lights of the cell as he slowly returned to consciousness. John shook his head and groaned as this movement brought on a wave of dizziness and nausea. "Why is it always my head? Why can't they hit me in the gut or legs? Hell, why do they have to hit me at all." He mumbled as he rolled over and tried to get his bearings. He balanced precariously on hands and knees and called out "Aeryn? Noranti? Hello?" All he heard was the faint buzzing of the security device that secured the door to the cell. John stood on wobbly legs, his hand seeking a wall or any sort of surface and met with air. "I'm alone. God, what did they do to Aeryn!' he thought. He called out more frantically, "Aeryn! Grayza, you bitch-where is Aeryn!" He spun around with his arms outstretched seeking the dimensions of the cell he was so obviously held in. He cautiously reached out and found the bunk and waste receptacle and then ran his hand along the wall until he found the door. He rattled the grating trying to get someone's attention and screaming, "Grayza. Braca. Come out and play! I know you want to!" Backing away from the door until the back of his knees found the bunk. He sank down and held his head in his hands and whispered, "I kept telling them something bad was going to happen. We are so damn screwed, frelled, reeled in, gutted, and ready for frying."

Braca brought the latest security recording from Crichton's cell to Grayza's office. Grayza ignored him for a moment as she stared at the security recording of Sun and the Traskan's cell. Paying close attention to the former Peacekeeper, she thought of how Sun had seen the danger Crichton was in, yet she still allowed herself to be captured without any fight what so ever. They had obviously developed some sort of emotional attachment to one another, something that she could use to her advantage to keep the Human in line. Braca shifted is stance, while remaining at attention, causing Grayza to look up from the display in front of her. "Yes, Captain. What is it?" she didn't bother to hide the annoyance in her voice as she looked at her second in command.

"Madame, Security has completed their analysis of Crichton's behavior. I believe you will find the results very interesting."

"Thank you, Captain," she said absent-mindedly and reached her hand out for the chip. "That will be all."

Grayza waited until the obsequious Braca had left her office and slipped the chip into her desktop recorder. She watched as Crichton alternately railed maniacally at the Peacekeepers, moved around the cell seeking out its dimensions and parameters, and sat with head in hands obviously depressed. Switching the monitor to the report provided by Braca, she read the medical record that was attached to the security report. she was disappointed to see that Sun had spoken the truth regarding Crichton's blindness. Lieva's addendum to the medical report showed that Crichton had recently undergone surgery to repair damage caused by the decompression, but there was nothing that could be done to repair the Human's sight, the damage was too extensive and beyond the med tech's abilities. Suddenly, a voice spoke from the chip, "You have no reached a secure area of the document. Enter the proper code to continue."

Entering the correct sequence, Grayza began to smile in surprise at the information in front of her. It seemed the human had more uses than even Scorpius knew of when he began hunting Crichton. Touching the comm in front of her, Grayza said, "Lieutenant Lieva, are you positive of these results in your report?"

"I am 80% certain, Commandant. The endocrine secretions from the alien are what you require, specifically the one for sensual feelings, but I would have to obviously do further testing to be completely certain." Lieutenant Lieva stated over the comm.

"These endocrine secretions are different, how?"

"The human produces various secretions from a region in his brain near the base of his neck that Sebeceans do not have. When asked, the human called this area his hypothalamus and said it controls his hormones that in turn manage many autonomic behaviors of his body, such as fear, hunger, thirst, sex, and so forth. His body normally produces these non-Sebecean hormones, but in quantities too limited for our use. Because his other senses are somewhat heightened with his loss of sight, his body is reacting by manufacturing more hormones, causing more intense sensual feelings, which in turn generates more secretions. It is my theory that if we can over-stimulate these already-heightened senses, we can cause the human to generate enough hormones for your purposes."

"Very well, see to it immediately." Remembering the Crichton's movements in his cell, she said, "But I want it to be in a controlled secure environment.

"Yes, Commandant."

Hearing the distinct soft beep of the Lieutenant cutting off communication to her office, Grayza immediately began outlining the criteria she needed to be met for the controlled environment that she needed. Touching the comm on her desk, she said, "Braca, I am sending you the specifications I need completed for a particular holding cell for Crichton." Downloading the information to the Captain's location, she smiled as she finished. "I want them completed within the next five arns."

"Yes, Ma'am. I will see to it immediately." came Braca's immediate response.

"I need Commander Crichton moved to the research cell as soon as it is ready. Have a medical tech meet you at his detention cell. I need him drugged but awake. I will also need the assistance of a technician with advanced neurological training and xenobiology. Grayza, out."

John heard the ring of the electronic key as it released the lock on his cell door. He knew it was bright in the cell and that he had no place to hide because he felt the heat on his head and the sweat that ran down his back wetting his t-shirt until it clung to his body. He stood in the middle of the cell and looked expectantly at the door as it opened. He knew he was no match for whoever entered the cell, but he had to try for his own sanity.

"Hello. I was beginning to think this place was a Motel 8 and nobody was home. You come to change my sheets and put a chocolate on my pillow?" The guards silently grabbed and held John's arms and before he could react, a medical technician pressed an injector to his neck. He heard the hiss of its release and said, "Oh frell, another person messing with my head." He felt his arms and legs grow heavy until he couldn't move. He sagged in the guard's arms. His head felt as if it weighed a ton and his tongue was thick in his mouth. He slurred, "I guess you get no tip from me." They dragged his now paralyzed body out of the cell and down the hall.

Grayza met the guards as they dragged John into the newly designed research cell. It's walls, floor, and ceiling were slick and shiny, reflecting the light and bouncing it around the room, creating a glare that John could not see. Giving the cell a cursory inspection, she could make out the signs of the hasty construction, but nodding her head in approval, she said, "Bring him in."

Looking over the walls, she spotted the speakers set every few denches, and the surveillance devices dotting the ceiling. Expecting to be thrown on the floor once again, John was surprised when the guards stopped and turned and simply allowed him to hang limply in their arms. "Oh, what in the hell are they going to do now?" he thought. He wasn't sure if he really wanted to know, but he knew for one thing, the waiting was almost as bad as not knowing his immediate fate. He hung limply in their arms waiting for what was to happen next. He did not have long to wait.

He heard the sound of several sets of footsteps as they entered the room, then Commandant Grayza's distinctive voice saying, "Well, Crichton, after all the death and destruction you have brought to the Peacekeepers, I have found a way for you to repay your debt." He could hear the direction of her voice changing as she walked around the room. "You have proven on numerous occasions to be resistant to both Peacekeeper and Scarren interrogation techniques. I need to see what it is about your physiological and neurological make up that makes this possible." John heard her stop just in front of him. "I need to know more of your unique talents."

"God, Gray-yza. Getz a new line" John slurred as he tried to lift his neck and face the woman's direction.

Grayza stepped to the side of the entrance to allow two more guards to silently enter the room and begin stripping Crichton of his clothing, leaving him naked and shivering in the cold. Crichton's voice seemed to grow slightly in strength as he said, "Jesus, Grayza, strip me of my dignity while you're at it." The guards left the room bearing the astronaut's clothing.

Grayza looked to Lieutenant Lieva and waved to the waiting tech who stepped forward and grasped John's unresponsive arms. Holding tightly to one wrist after the other, the tech slipped gauntlets on to each one. As each band snapped shut, Crichton cried out as the tiny needles within the metal bracelets automatically extended into his flesh, fusing themselves with nerves. She watched with a sense of satisfaction as the Human felt the metal heat up and smelt the fumes when the metal bands were welded onto his wrists. Two more bracelets were placed around his ankles and welded shut. John gave a howl of pain with the insertion of each additional needle and yelled, "What the hell did you just do to me?" No one answered his plea but watched as the tech proceeded to slip another band around John's neck and sealing it in the back with another weld, and stepped away from him. Crichton began to shudder and clenched his jaws to try and stifle the pain that Grayza knew coursed through his body

"These devices are now permanently attached to your nerves and will stimulate your neurons to accentuate your reactions to stimuli of various types." Grayza explained. "If you were a Peacekeeper or even a common Sebacean, with your blindness, you would be deemed useless and given the proper gift of relief from this wasted life. But it appears that your Human physiology compensates for this by producing various hormones that I require. You will find yourself very useful in the very near future as a source for these."

"I will not be your damn milk cow, Grayza. What the hell is it with you Peacekeepers? All you frelling do is try and take what was never yours to begin with." John said, trying to sound as dignified as he could, but knowing he was standing completely helpless and naked in front of the Commandant only served to make him sound angry instead. "Get these damn things off me, and GIVE ME BACK MY DAMN CLOTHES!"

Grayza signaled the guards to release Crichton, who immediately collapsed on to the floor and screamed as his knees, stimulated by the injections from his ankle cuffs, reacted to the hard surface. Looking down at him, she said, "I am afraid that is not possible, Crichton. This is but the beginning of the price you 'will' pay for the destruction of the Command Carrier. As it is, Aeryn Sun's trial is set for five solar days from now. The results of testing, and the subsequent gift of your essence, will do much to mitigate her situation. Think on this." Turning away, she and the others left him lying shaking on the floor. Once the door closed behind her, Grayza said, "Raise the temperature of the floor and walls to optimum plus three."

With Grayza's words ringing in the air, John heard the slam of the cell door. "Please someone tell me who I pissed off in my last life to deserve this shit?" John muttered as the feeling slowly returned to his unresponsive limbs. With the return of his mobility he began feeling his way along the floor. After a short time, John began noticing a change in the temperature of the floor and walls. Soon it felt as if he were standing in the center of an inferno. The heat felt like razors on his bare feet and hands sending spikes of pain up his shins and arms. His skin rapidly turned red in reaction, burn blisters forming on the backs of his knees and elbows and other sensitive areas.

Gingerly racing his hands along the surface of the floor and walls, he tried to locate something that might contain water, anything to ease the burning of his dry throat. Hearing the sound of metal sliding against metal to his left brought John's attention in that direction, within a couple of microts his fingers touched upon what was obviously a cup containing liquid. Bring the cup up to his lips, he felt relief as the water touched his parched throat. The water tasted of chemicals and he gagged on its foulness. Suddenly a loud screeching noise filled the room, assaulting his sensitive hearing. His instinctually dropped the cup in his hands to cover his ears.

"Turn it down!" he screamed, using one hand to pounding against the wall. Just as suddenly as it began, the room grew quiet. Sighing with relief, John continued to explore his surroundings more slowly, his hands sliding across each surface as the sweat dripped down his arms. His thoughts focused on Aeryn and prayed that she was in a lot better situation than he was at the moment. The room's temperature began to fall rapidly, causing the sweat on his body to cool and he felt as his skin prickled with goose bumps. Soon, his posterior and thighs were covered in welts from the cold of the floor. Moving to a corner of the room, John folded his arms around his knees and tried to stop his teeth from chattering so damn loudly. Each click of his teeth on one another sounded like a slammed door, causing little knives of pain to flair in his head.

After a short time, even touching his own skin bombarded him with both a mixture of extreme sensations of pleasure and pain. Even the air he breathed tasted of fetid sourness that caused him to gag and cough. He just wanted it to all stop as he tried to curl up in the corner and resist the multitude of sensory stimuli, which continued to alternate between hot and cold, raucous noise and nauseous smells.

Periodically, John felt a sharp pain as if someone stuck a knife in his arms and legs. Silent techs entered the room and rapidly took blood and sweat samples from the almost comatose man. They left before he could react. The noise, heat, cold, and sudden shocks of pain did not abate. Then, there was another sensation that John could not immediately place within the avalanche of sensations falling upon him. Hands rubbing his face felt rough to his highly sensitized cheeks, lips, and chin leaving behind an oily residue; the air around him stinking with pheromones and his tongue tasting of sweet and sour. His skin tingled and burned as if his nerve endings were on fire. The fire raced up his body and on to his face turning his cheeks bright red with the heat of his sudden sexual arousal. His body shivered and sweated. The hands and fingers were now stroking his body leaving red hot streaks of sensation in their wake as they worked their way downward to his inner thighs. He vaguely recognized the feel as a tongue joined the dance and he knew that all he wanted in life was to continue these feelings, yet they pained him with their unbelievable intensity. He suddenly couldn't stand the pressure of his need and he begged for an end to the madness of his arousal. Unable to move under sensory assault, he felt hands guided him into the right position. The other's body mold into his and he screamed as he found release and satiated, he fell back into the corner. He couldn't figure out what had happened, but his embarrassment knew no bounds.

On and on the tortured continued. John could not tell how long he had been subjected to the heat, cold, dampness, tastes, smells, and the awful oily sexual arousals. He didn't know how much longer he could hold out as exhaustion threatened. Blue tornadoes spun in his vision, twisting and turning and spinning his senses. He felt the urge to jump into the chaos and leave his body to its pain, but the blue visions merely taunted him in their unreality as he reached out his fingers to touch the cyclone in front of him. "God, let them be real," he murmured, the sound reverberating in his skull like a boom box set too loud. Equations circled his head as they had done monens before when he was trapped in the wormhole. He couldn't control his thoughts as they drifted into quantum physics and esoteric formulae and coherent thought fled. He hid inside his wormholes as the outwardly he rocked and rocked, tears rolling down his cheeks, his eyes rolled up in his head which hung between his curled up knees. He no longer felt the punishment of his body.

A smile played on her lips as Grayza read the report in front of her, she was very pleased with the results of the blood and sweat tests. She looked forward to using Crichton's bodily resources to provide hormone treatments for herself and others like her who had been modified for the sexual conquests need in their Disrupter work. It had been a long sought solution to the reverse the premature aging process that was a direct side effect of the Heppel gland that had been placed in her body in order to fulfill her duties. Watching the direct feed from Crichton's cell, she could not help the excitement she felt over his obvious extreme discomfort when he even touched his own flesh. In addition, she had enjoyed her own personal attention to the alien's stimuli overload. She looked forward to even more chances to stimulate his sexual processes to manufacture the much-needed hormones. She shook her head to clear it of these thoughts and checked again the chip showing the behavior of Crichton's companions. She listened more closely as she caught the end of a soliloquy by the old woman. At the touch of a button, she played the conversation once more

The old woman whom Officer Sun called Noranti, swayed and waved her arms as she chanted, while Sun sat unmoving against the wall with her knees drawn up to her chest. She didn't seem to mind that Aeryn was not paying much attention to her words. Noranti sang out, "And the three races will be joined through the love of a child of light and darkness, strength and grace. They must teach the child peace to bring the balance. Wormholes, paths between space and time. Harmony and balance lie in the blindness in between."

'Wormholes again,' thought Grayza. Scorpius had allowed his obsession with wormholes and John Crichton's knowledge of them, to ruin a stellar career within the Peacekeepers. It was a mistake she would not soon follow. Her curiosity was peaked none-the less at the interconnection that bound Crichton to so many things that determined the fate of the Peacekeepers. Her attention was suddenly riveted by the mention of a child by the Traskan. If what she suspected was true, that could be very useful information. Pressing the communication control, Grayza ordered, "Security, bring the Traskan to my office. Then, take Aeryn Sun to medical, I want a full physical performed."

Noranti stood without fear before Commandant Grayza with her hands secured behind her. She still did not understand the guards' comments on her body odor. Didn't they realize that if you bathed it would remove one's precious life juices? Blinking her third eye, Noranti looked intently at the Commandant and stated, "You wished to see me? I can be very helpful to you. I have been a doctor, chef, arbitrator, and philosopher. What is it you wish of me?"

Grayza, slightly non-plussed by Noranti's statement, quickly recovered and stated, "Traskan, you were a prisoner on Scorpius' Command Carrier. From what records we were able to salvage, I found that you were to be held for treason and set for trial. I will go easier on you if you supply me with answers to any questions I have regarding John Crichton and Aeryn Sun."

Noranti nodded her head, her third eye glowed an eerie blue as she spoke, "The blind king with stars in his eyes, guides the child born of strength and light. Three souls unite to build a bridge of time and peace."

Listening as Noranti spoke of prophecies and other nonsense, Grayza could not tell if the old Traskan was insane or was simply trying to find a way to save her wrinkled old skin. Either way, it did not matter as none of the three prisoners would ever be setting foot off the Command Carrier again.

Aeryn lay strapped down on the medical examination bed with her belly exposed. Silent medical technicians bustled around her. For the last several arns she had been scanned, poked, prodded, and analyzed all without a word or a look in her direction. Noticing several glances past her, she turned her head sharply in that direction and spied Grayza who stood in the entrance to the medical bay. "Aeryn Sun, I see congratulations are in order."

Aeryn looked at Grayza, exclaiming, "What the frell? Let me out of these straps, now!"

"You have already done that with Crichton and the result is that you have conceived a half-breed child. It seems that you missed your per cycle evaluation of your contraception implants." Grayza said smugly, looking down at her. She wanted nothing more than beat the Commandant into submission and force her to tell where John was being held.

Keeping a stony expression her face, Aeryn said evenly, "Where is Crichton?" She thought her insides were about to burst if the muscles tightened anymore for fear of John being injured any more than he was. "This would not be happening if we had not forced him down onto Arnessk," she thought, fighting to keep her true feelings for John hidden.

Grayza knew Sun's eyes followed her as she crossed the room, "I have ordered the release of the child from stasis. You and Crichton will remain here until the birth of the hybrid for your own protection, of course. If you cooperate, you will be returned to service, all black marks expunged. Should you resist and try to escape, remember this, Commander Crichton's well being is in your hands, Officer Sun." Giving Sun a chance to think on her words, Grayza turned and left the room.

Aeryn watched helplessly as the med techs approached her bed, their hands containing the various implements needed to release the child and allow it to grow. She knew the truth, once their child was born, both she and John would be executed and the baby would be brought up into the Peacekeepers as a soldier or as an experiment to see what the end result of such breeding could produce. Pushing aside the feelings of fear and frustration, she waited for the first opportunity for escape that showed itself.

Two guards walked on either side of Noranti as she was marched down the corridor back to her detention cell. She smiled at the memory of Grayza's frustration when she answered her questions with her own riddles. She had managed to turn Grayza's thoughts to the child, Aeryn, and John. Grayza would be a perfect tool for the testing of the prophesy. The outcome was assured, but the reaching was at stake. Noranti fumbled in her pouches collecting the herbs she needed. She paused, causing the guards to move slightly ahead of her.

"Excuse mecan I ask you a question?" she said abruptly. The two men turned and faced her, raising her hand, palm up, she blew the contents of the selected pouch into their surprised faces, and watched them tumble to the floor. Brushing her palms on her skirts, she stepped over their sleeping bodies.

Noranti stepped into the medical bay and whispered," You don't see anyone you can't hear anyone" as she blew more dust on the medical technicians surrounding Aeryn's bed. She deftly moved around them. Swiftly shoving several herbs into Sun's mouth in order for Sun's mind to counter-act the power suggestion she had just given, Noranti bent down to release the straps holding the ex-Peacekeeper to the bed.

Aeryn sat up on the edge of the bed and tried to get her bearings through her dizziness. Noranti had arrived too late and the child was now viable. Aeryn shivered as she thought of the future repercussions of this day, then put it out of her mind as she struggled to regain her footing. John needed her.

Noranti chanted, "You see her on the bed, nothing has changed." Her third eye glowed magenta in response to her words.

Aeryn whispered to Noranti, "Do you have a gun?"

Noranti shook her head, and indicated with her finger to her lips that Aeryn must remain silent. Aeryn slid off the bed and stepped silently around the medical staff who seemed not to notice that she was missing from the bed. Together, the women snuck out of the medical bay and into the hallway.

Suddenly, they paused as shrieks filled the air. Aeryn had never heard such an agonizing sound in her life. "John! It must be John!" she said anxiously, grabbing Noranti's hand and ran towards the origin of the awful sounds. Not far from the medical facilities they stopped abruptly and flattened themselves against a wall. Peering around the corner, Aeryn spied two guards standing at attention in front of a grated door. She silently indicated to Noranti that she should use her powders and take out the left guard while Aeryn would overcome the right guard. The sounds coming from the room did not stop, but rose and fell. Controlling her rising panic, Aeryn counted to three, and then raced behind the right-hand guard. She placed her hands firmly on both sides of the guard's head and gave a rapid twist. She kept her hands firmly in place and followed the now dead guard to floor to ensure that his placement did not cause a sound. Noranti's guard dropped at the same moment. At that moment, a loud piercing noise caused her to jump and turn looking for attackers, but she quickly realized the sound originated from the door beside her. Stepping up to the small window in the door, Aeryn peered into the room. There, to her horror, she spied John balled up in the corner shaking as he rocked back and forth, his hands over his ears as tears streamed down his face. She could tell he was screaming from the look of pain on his face, but could no longer hear him over the noise emanating from the room. Reaching down and grabbing the ident chip of the dead guard, she slammed the chip into the locking mechanism and released it with a click.

As Aeryn and Noranti burst into the room, they both reeled back from the noise and repellant smell of the room. Her breath instantly began clouding the frigid air as she rushed to John's side, reaching down and gently grasping John by the shoulders. "John," she yelled, trying to gain his attention. Her head began to feel as if it were splitting in two from the noise, she could only hazard to guess as to what it was doing to John's sensitive hearing. Looking around the room, Aeryn spotted the assortment of speakers lining the walls. Pulling out her weapon, she began firing at them and swiftly quieted them. By this time his cries had quieted down to breathless pants, but still he rocked and moaned. Nothing she said seemed to penetrate his trance-like state.

Aeryn couldn't quell the rising panic as she watched, looking at the old woman, she asked desperately, "Noranti, can you think of anything to break him out of this state?"

John dimly felt hands on his shoulders, but cringed at the thought of another episode of sexual arousal. Wormholes of various shapes and intensity swirled in his vision as arcane mathematical symbols ran through his consciousness. He moaned at the heat rising up from the floor on to his bare legs, feet, and posterior. His arms, legs, and back were covered in red oozing burns both from the icy walls and burning floor. The buzzing noise brought dizziness to his head, made worse by the wormholes in his sight. He screamed again and tried to shake off the hands that sought his face, knowing that the wretched smell and the feel of oil burning his skin would be the next sensation. He tried to curl up into a smaller space to avoid the coming onslaught of sexual arousal, but nothing happened. The hands reached down and gently, feather lightly stroked his cheeks. He knew that touch.

"Aeryn?" he rasped out hoarsely, as he gingerly removed his hands from his ears.

"Yes, John, it's Aeryn." she said quietly. "We have" she shocked when John jerked away from her touch, his hands immediately covered his ears once more.

"Too rough, too loud, too much. Don't-don't touch me. Everything hurts. I-I can feel and hear everything." he whispered just as his eyes rolled back in his head and he lost consciousness, finally overcome by the extreme stimulus emitted by the room and magnified by the chips embedded in his wrists, ankles, and neck.

"Oh John, what have they done to you?" Aeryn cried, finally seeing the gauntlets and neckband welded to her lover's body. "Noranti, you have to do something. I think those things on his neck, ankles, and wrists amplify these frelling temperatures, sounds, and smells. It is too much for him."

Noranti was not paying attention, but rather she was busy chewing a mixture of herbs she had withdrawn from the many pouches hung on her body. She spat the concoction into her palm and gently rolled it into a ball with her other fingers. "Help me open his mouth, dear," she said. Aeryn held John's mouth open as Noranti forced the "pill" down his throat and messaged his neck to ensure that he swallowed it. "That should overcome the sensations for a while, although while it works he will have little feeling in his extremities."

Shaking her head, Aeryn said, "I would expect nothing less of our luck. Now help me carry him."

Aeryn and Noranti hoisted John up by his arms and dragged his unconscious form out into the hallway. Panting with exertion, the women pulled his body into a small alcove not far from the research facility. Aeryn called quietly to John while stroking his cheek, "John, you must wake up."

John groaned and rolled his head from side to side as he sought to return to consciousness. He raised his hand to his head and whispered, "Could someone tell the head bangers that their music went out of style years ago." He rolled over on his side, and groaning, opened his eyes to the darkness. "Aeryn? Please let this be real"

"Yes, John. It's me. You aren't hallucinating." Aeryn smiled in relief when she saw John's return to consciousness. "Are you all right? Noranti gave you something to dull your senses."

"I can't feel my hands or feet, babe," he said, smiling a little, "But anything is better than that three-ring circus of a room. I'm gonna need some help here, though. Where is here, anyway?"

Noranti silently threw a sheet over the supine human and then helped Aeryn wrap it around his body. John tried grasping its edges, but his numb fingers fumbled. "Damn, if it's not one thing, it's another. Thanks."

Aeryn placed her finger to her lips, but then suddenly remembered that John could not see her signal and hissed, "Shhhh, Peacekeepers."

A claxon suddenly blared out, causing Crichton to cringe and bite down on his lip to keep from screaming from the sudden intense pain. When the soldiers had passed, Aeryn looked at Noranti and whispered fiercely, "I thought you said all of his senses were numbed."

Noranti replied, "I guess I should have added more glivok to the mixture to take in to account his heightened awareness. It looks like his hearing is still hypersensitive. I suggest we make our way to the hanger bay quickly before the rest of the potion wears off and John's other senses return to their heightened states."

With Aeryn and Noranti's assistance, John tried to walk as quickly as his numb feet would allow while trying to bite back the urge to scream from the sound of the alarm drilling a hole into his eardrums. They stopped frequently to avoid contingents of soldiers as well as to allow John to rest. By the time they reached the hanger bay, his body and hair was drenched in sweat and his arms and legs trembled with exhaustion. Aeryn slowly lowered John into a service area off to the side of where the prowlers and marauders were parked in neat rows. He leaned his back against the wall and closed his eyes, trying to still the rapid beating of his heart and the thumping of the pain in his head from the noise overload. Aeryn and Noranti hunkered down by his side and each touched his arms to let him know where they were located. "Now what do we do? Any plans? I'm all out of 'em." John stated. Aeryn sighed and Noranti fingered something on her dress and hummed tunelessly.

"Well, I was thinking of shooting the dren out of anyone that tries to stop us from boarding one of these Prowlers," Aeryn said"

Smiling through the grimace of pain from the sound of her voice, John said, "That's my girl. Great plan, let's do it."

Realizing the herbs were already wearing off, Aeryn looked at Noranti and whispered, "Do you have any more of that 'stuff' to give him?"

Shifting through her pouch, Noranti said sadly, "I am afraid not. I no longer have all of the ingredients to alleviate his symptoms."

"Frelling great!" she hissed. Her hand reached out to touch John's leg, but she stopped herself before she could do so. Knowing she would have to act swiftly, Aeryn stood to see if the way was clear before making her way to the nearest Prowler.

Suddenly the alarm quieted and John began to breath a sigh of relief. "Aeryn Sun, John Crichton, I already know that you are hiding here. It will do you no good to try and escape. Give up now and I will go easy on you." Grayza's voice boomed over the large expanse of the room.

"What did she do? Talk through a frelling bullhorn?" John asked, his hands automatically reaching for the sides of his head.

"Grayza cannot see us from where she is positioned, and I have a clear path to the nearest Prowler. John, I am going to make a run for it and once inside, I can fire upon them with the Prowler." Aeryn said with authority. "It is our only chance." Noticing that Noranti was actually paying attention to her, she said looking down at the pulse pistol in the old woman's hands, "Anyone gets near you, you shoot them and make sure they stay down. Do you understand?"

"Of course, my dear, no harm will come to Johnnor you. You both are too important."

"Aeryn, I don't like this one damn bit. I can't do anything to protect your back." John said, angrily at the situation.

"Neither do I, John, but it is all we have." Crouching as she stood, Aeryn began making her way to the Prowler. A scuffling noise caught John's attention, tilting his head slightly he recognized it after a microt. Whispering to Noranti, "There are several men making their way towards Aeryn. We have to warn her without letting Grayza know."

Placing the gun in John's hand, Noranti said, "I will warn her immediately."

"What the hell are you giving me this for? I can't use it!"

Sounding completely rational to his ears, the old woman said, "You just heard several men approaching Aeryn from several motras. You will be able to fire upon them if the need comes." With those words, Noranti ran in the same direction as Aeryn, leaving him completely alone while surrounded by the enemy.

Suddenly there was a cacophony of sound as several pulse blasts erupted in the air. An involuntary yelp of pain leapt from John's lips at the high-pitched sound. Gritting his teeth, he tried to block out the sounds by concentrating on locating Aeryn's distinct voice. Instead what he heard was the sound of approaching footsteps coming his and Aeryn's way. Climbing up onto his knees and grimacing at the resulting pain, John pictured the pulse pistol in his hand as he touched, and found that Noranti had made sure it was ready to fire. He could hear several voices speaking at once, but sorting out their sounds, he found out that several men had Aeryn and Noranti pinned down.

He heard Grayza's voice off to the left of his location as she said, "If Crichton is not with them, that means he is still in this location" he lost the sound of her voice over more pulse blast fire. He pulled the trigger repeatedly in the direction of her voice. There was no way he was going to allow her to ever touch him or Aeryn again. The gun felt increasingly hot and burned his sensitized palms causing him to grit his teeth against the assault on his senses as Noranti's herbs wore off even more. He listened with his sense of smell, hearing, and even taste. He felt like frelling Daredevil.

"Where the frell did 'he' come from?"

"Cover that flank, there are two more with him!"

"The Commandant's been hit! Get her out of here!"

"Sir, Commandant Grayza is dead!"

"Do not let the criminals escape!"

He heard heavy footsteps approach from behind. He turned to face the new onslaught aiming his gun and pressing his finger on the trigger, but suddenly stopped himself from firing when recognized D'Argo's heavy breathing and smell.

"D'Argo! I am so glad to hear you. Is Aeryn ok? Where is she!" John asked frantically as he lowered the too hot gun and rubbed his burning hands on his legs trying to sooth their burning.

D'Argo reached down and grabbed John's arm, saying "She is holding off the rest of Grayza's soldiers for the moment so that I could get to you. She is fine. Come on, we are getting the frell out of here!"

John yelped and pulled his arm out of the luxan's grasp. "Sorry, D, everything hurts right now. Be gentle with me, man."

"Sorry. I need to lead you to Lo'La." D'Argo said gruffly. D'Argo gently reached out and let John hold his elbow. Trying to keep his mind off the pain caused by D'Argo's rough hands, he asked, "Which one of you shot Grayza?"

"You did. That is what gave me a chance to retrieve you, while the soldiers are distracted for a microt."

"Well, good things come to those who wait."

"John! Are you all right?" he heard Aeryn ask him off to his left.

"I'm fine, Baby. Let's get the hell out of here!" He reached out and found Aeryn's arms, and ignoring the burning of her cold hands on his chest, crushed her body into his.

Swiftly boarding Lo'La, and he almost passed out from the sound of Chiana and Jool's excited shrill voices. Aeryn quickly quieted them and explained his situation. No one spoke a word as D'Argo steered the large ship out of the hanger bay and into space. The Carrier hang behind them as D'Argo swung Lo'La around and prepared to head off towards where the ship had located Moya's signal. Suddenly, D'Argo asked in surprise, "Where the frell did that come from? It was not here when we arrived."

"What is it?" Aeryn asked.

D'Argo had spoken about three microts after the familiar ringing began to sound in his head. "It's a wormhole." John answered.

"We've got several Prowlers coming after us, so I suggest you hold onto something." he heard D'Argo say urgently. They each knew that Lo'La could possibly take on one Prowler, but not several at the same time.

"Aeryn, take me up front." John said, tightening the sheet around him. Aeryn took his arm and led him around the rest of the crew's bodies to the front of the ship. Facing in his friend's direction, John said, "D'Argo, I have an idea on how we can get the hell away from those Prowlers, but you're going to have to trust me."

"What are you going to do, John?" Aeryn asked behind him.

"Fly Lo'La into the wormhole and back to Moya."

D'Argo looked from John's face to Aeryn's. Looking her in the eye, he saw confidence in John in them as she nodded her head in agreement.

"Sit down, and down and don't touch any controls"

"I know the rules, D'Argo. I'm blind, not stupid." John said holding out his hands, grimaced when he felt the Luxan's saliva touch his skin. "I will 'never' get used to that," he whispered as he took the steering control.

D'Argo watched his friend and said, "John, the wormhole is"

"Shhh, I'm listening to her, come on darlin', take me home."

Her-this was definitely a her this time. She called him, singing a sweet song that only he could hear. Entering her mouth, his fingers allowed the ship to gently caressed her curves as he rode upon the wave of her crying out to him over and over. Telling him which way she wanted him to move through her flesh. The song continued to rise in pitch until it was all he heard, smelled, or knew. His very existence was carried within her approaching crescendo as she began to scream and echo through out his entire body. He felt as if he had died and reached a new level of existence when her voice reached the pinnacle note, suddenly found himself alone and longing for her touch. He sat breathless as he gripped the steering control in his hands.

He felt nimble fingers pry his hands away, as Aeryn said, "You did it, John. We are home."

Epilogue

Feeling Aeryn's fingers remove his hands from the control, John leaned back in his seat. "Home," he sighed, wincing as the sound of his own voice boomed in his ears although the others had to strain to hear his whisper. Somehow he had done it, flown through another wormhole without even the ability to see. He still felt the shimmering hum of the quanta in his ears and head from his beautiful wormhole, somehow it felt almost as if he had called her to him, but that was impossible. They had just been lucky for once, but he could have sworn that he hadn't felt any wormholes near them before she appeared. John felt relief flood him that been able to at least do 'one' thing to keep Aeryn safe, and for once in a very long time he felt useful to the one person that mattered more than life itself. As the hum began to die down inside of his head, the pain surrounding him began once more. Everyone was silent as they sat within the small confines of the ship, either out of shock over what they had just witnessed or out of consideration for his condition, John couldn't tell. All John knew was that soon he wouldn't be able to even stand being inside of the ship, the sound of Lo'La's engines were becoming increasingly louder as the herbs that Noranti had given him wore off even more.

Aeryn stood behind John and noted how much his arms trembled from the strain of being able to sense everything around him. Aeryn had no way to know what he was feeling at the moment, all she knew was what she saw in that cell as even the air around him hurt. Making a concerted effort not to wrap her arms around him and cause him even more pain, Aeryn leaned close to D'Argo and whispered close to his ear, "D'Argo, take us home, please."

D'Argo aimed Lo'La at Moya's hanger entrance and skillfully brought the ship into Moya's hanger bay. Jool and Chiana quickly ran down the steps and stepped away from Lo'La. Chiana stood close to the steps waiting, unsure of how she could possibly help. Because of the bombardment of images she received when in the middle of a vision, Chiana knew in a small way what John was experiencing, but the sight, smells, and sounds left her after a few microts. John had been stuck in that hezmana for a couple of solar days.

As Jool neared the hanger door, Chiana asked her, "Where are you going? Aren't you going to help any?"

"Yes, I am. I am going to wash the smell of chakkan oil off of me and then somehow find a way to get those frelling bracelets off of John." Jool said without even turning around, she didn't have time nor the energy to argue at the moment. Her mind began to wander through the list of supplies she had in the medical bay, and trying to think of a way to help alleviate John's pain until she could figure out a solution to his bigger problem.

Noranti muttered to herself as she stepped away from the ship, and ignored the strange looks given to her as she passed Chiana. Her third-eye blazed as she wandered out of the cavernous bay. "I was right, they are indeed the ones promised to us." So many people had died in their search for the one to tie the realms, and now their lives would not be in vain.

D'Argo concentrated on shutting down Lo'La's systems, giving Aeryn and John time to pull themselves together and figure out how to leave the ship without causing John even more discomfort.

"Thank you, D'Argo. I don't think we would have made it out of there without you. I wanted you to know that you're 'da man'," John said, starring straight ahead while he tried to collect the sheet that wrapped around his middle.

Speaking as softly as he could, D'Argo said, "That's what comrades do for one another, John. And of course I'm a man."

John snorted, and then choked as his hyper-sensitive nose picked up microscopic chemicals and other pollutants wafting into Lo'La from Moya. Standing up, John tilted his head slightly, he wrinkled his nose slightly and said, Sparky has obviously been down here recently. And DArgo, you really 'are' a Man."

Aeryn simply looked at her two friends and smiled. It was good to be back on Moya and return to whatever was normal in her life. She reached out and lightly touched John on his arm. He flinched, but took her elbow. Wrapping his sheet tighter around his waist, he followed his best friend and lover down the stairway.

Aeryn spotted Chiana standing at the bottom of the stairs, the girl had a anxious look on her face as she asked, "Anything I can do to help out?"

Putting a hand to his ear at the sound of her voice, John said, "No, Chi. You sticking your butt out for me again was more than enough." He of course didn't see the look of remorse on the young Nebari's face when she realized she had inadvertently caused him pain.

Leading John to the doorway, Aeryn looked at Chiana with understanding, she said, "It is all right, Chiana. I will take John to our room to rest for a short time while I see if Noranti can locate any more herbs to mute the sensations from these frelling gauntlets. Do you think you could perhaps fix him something to eat?"

Smiling, Chiana said as she backed away a couple of steps, "Sure, sure, I'll make something special." Turning around, she quickly left the hanger to try and think of something special for everyone.

John turned his head in Aeryn's direction as they entered the corridor and said, "You are such a softy. You know that?"

D'Argo almost laughed at the teasing tone to John's voice, instead he said, "Just go on to your room and do not worry about how soft Aeryn feels right now."

"Spoil sport."

"I am going to Command and make sure there are no Peacekeepers in the vicinity." D'Argo said as he turned down a different corridor and leaving Aeryn to guide John back to their quarters for a some much needed rest. D'Argo couldn't see how the John was able to make jokes when he was still in obvious pain, especially as it was partially his fault they were taken in the first place. When he and the girls met up at the transport pod, it was only in time to see Grayza's Marauder leave the planet's surface. It had taken them a quarter arn to locate Vella and Tarnat to try and find out John and Aeryn's location, that was when Vella revealed she had informed the Peacekeepers of their presence. Before he could even take a step their direction, D'Argo heard a scream off to his side and a blur of red and black as Jool ran at Vella and attacked the older Interion. It only took a few microts to reach the two women, but by the time he was able to pull Jool off of Vella, the woman was a mass of blood and bruises. Tarnat stood off to side with Chiana's gun pointed at his face as she said, "Please, give me a reason to put a blast in your frelling face!"

His own anger at the situation was quashed by the urgency he felt to find and rescue his friends, looking at the two Interions he growled, "Our comms cannot break through these magnetics any longer. Take me to your communications equipment." When they only stared him blankly, he quickly changed his Qualta Blade to fire, "Now!" he yelled. Once they led them to Instructor Vella's quarters, D'Argo quickly contacted Pilot and found that Pilot was tracking the Marauder's current path. It took several arns to finish the repairs to the transport pod, the three remaining crew joined up with Moya and tracked the Peacekeepers to their Command Carrier, staying well out of sensor range until they found the right time to fly aboard in Lo'La.

Puttering around the room, Chiana was bundle of nervous energy, and even after several arns of cooking she still felt unable to really settle down. She had tried to fix something for everyone, including those awful Marjoules that Rygel so loved to eat. She nervously waited for her friends and crewmates to enter the Center Chamber and discover her surprise. Jool entered the room and gasped at the gourmet feast in front of her. "Chiana, you amaze me. Where ever did you find Candied Annouries? They are really expensive," she stated as she seated herself down and took a healthy helping of the sweet confections.

D'Argo and Rygel entered the room together and had a similar reaction to the contents of the groaning table. Chiana was thrilled at D'Argo's pleased surprise and his resulting hug. Rygel simply glanced her way, and with earbrows raised, seated himself in front of the marjoules and began eating.

Once inside their room, Aeryn had suggested he take a shower to try and relax him and his mind from everything that had happened over the last couple of days. Agreeing with her, John made his way to the refresher and turned on the water as she went to find Noranti to see if she had found anything to help him until the metal bands were removed from him. The water at first was shocking on his skin, but he found that if Pilot set the temperature exactly his body temperature and lowered the pressure that he could stand it long enough to get clean.

John sat carefully on the edge of his bed and closed his eyes, he couldn't sleep. He had laid on the bed for the past several arns, and 'stared' at the ceiling. His mind just would not shut off enough for him to rest, finally giving up, he began to get dressed. He had found an old t-shirt and soft pants and struggled to pull them on over his various burns and blisters as well as his over-sensitized skin. The clothing was prickly and rough, but he tried to ignore the sensation as he felt his way around his room. He couldn't fit his shoes and socks over the ankle gauntlets, so decided to go barefooted until his could figure out a solution. Just as he was finished dressing, Aeryn called softly from the entranceway, "Still unable to sleep?"

John jumped slightly from the noise, then sheepishly smiled and said, "Sorry, Aeryn, I still am not used to these extremes. Everything either hurts, booms, smells, or tickles."

Aeryn said, "We will find a solution, John, I know it. For now, why don't we join the others. Chiana commed and informed me she had finished Last Meal." John sighed as he took Pax's leash and followed Aeryn to the Center Chamber. Despite the ravenous hunger he felt, the very idea of eating right now made him slightly nauseous.

Aeryn could hear the others discussing the events they had just witnessed on the Command Carrier and on the return trip back to Moya. She looked carefully at John noting that he had begun to tremble as his nose and ears were roughly accosted by the myriad smells and sounds emanating from the Center Chamber.

He shuddered and pulled away from Aeryn, "I-I can't go in there, Aeryn. Too many smells, too hot, too loud," he rasped out as he gagged and held his stomach as extreme nausea suddenly hit him. Sweat ran off his forehead and down his cheeks as the various alien food odors hit him even more strongly. Aeryn turned and grabbed him by the shoulders catching him as he slid down Moya's bulkhead to sit on the floor. He curled up in a ball, holding his hands over his ears and moaned.

Aeryn leaned over John's body and whispered, "John, stay with me here. You need to help me. I can 'not' move you away from the noise and smells without your help. John slowly lifted his head and turned towards the sound of her voice.

Aeryn, we have to solve this thing. I can't live like this, John said, practically crying from the pain of his stomach and head. Everything around him felt as if it were spinning like a top, and he knew any moment he would either vomit or pass out right there in the corridor. It took everything in him to stand and allow Aeryn to take his arm. Together, Aeryn and John stumbled back to the quiet of his quarters. She gently helped him lay down on his bed, and slowly pulled off his clothing after he mumbled that they were beginning to feel as if they were tearing his skin off. Watching him carefully, she waited until he fell into an exhausted sleep.

Aeryn joined the others in the Center Chamber as the meal was winding down and sat down at the table. Chiana looked at her and asked worriedly, "Where's Crichton?"

Taking a cup and filling it with Freva nectar, she said, "He collapsed just as he reached the Center Chamber, I took him back to our quarters. The sounds and smells coming from this room were too much for him. Noranti's herbs are no longer helping him, and I do not think he will be able to eat because of the smells and tastes of the food overwhelming him. I honestly do not know what to do." She knew that she had to remain strong for John at this time and find a solution to help him. Pilot, are you listening?

"Yes, Officer Sun. Please excuse my eavesdropping, but I too am concerned about the Commander.

Can the DRDs remove the bracelets," D'Argo asked.

I do not think that the DRDs would be able to safely remove the needles that are attached to the Commander's nerve endings because Moya cannot see at such a delicate and precise level. The Commander could end up without feeling in his extremities, or worse if a mistake is made while removing the binding around his neck.

"What if I hooked up a scanner to a DRD and you guided it. Would that allow enough precision?" Jool asked as her hair turned red reflecting her concern over the procedure.

"I believe that would help in visualizing the location of each needle."

"Then it is a plan. I will tell John when he wakes." Aeryn stated as she stepped away from the table. "I only hope this plan doesn't get as frelled up as all our others."

John lay on the medical bay bed with his arms and legs spread-eagled on a supporting frame. He was physically and emotionally frelled at the moment. Waking a short time after his collapse, Aeryn told him what they planned to do to remove the bracelets from him. After that, he couldn't fall back asleep because every time he closed his eyes all he could see were wormholes and quantum physics equations.

It hadn't helped him feel any better that he was sleeping alone. Aeryn had made a pallet on the floor next to the bed because each time she accidentally touched him, it sent shocks of pain through him. He couldn't find anyway to be comfortable. The bedclothes slithering beneath him reminded him of the phantom hands and the pungent oil that made him crazy with lust at the same time making him cringe in pain at his loss of control. Even Moya's common sounds roared in his ears: the hum of the DRDs making repairs somewhere in the ductwork, the soft buzzing of her piping and airflow regulators. He couldn't shut it off and it was slowly driving him crazy like Chinese water torture. He had tossed and turned throughout the long sleep cycle. Now, here he was, lying in front of his friends like a sacrifice on the table. They were all quiet, but he could still hear as each shifted nervously. He could hear Aeryn's breathing close to him, trying to give him some comfort by not leaving his side.

Jool gently touched John on the arm, trying not to startle him. His arm flinched at her stroke, but he said nothing to her." John, I am setting up the scanner now. Aeryn has placed the DRD next to your right wrist. I am going to give you a painkiller to help you. Let me know when your wrists feel numb." Jool pressed the injector's nozzle just above his elbow. He heard the hiss as its contents rushed into his vein. He felt it burn on its way down his arm, but the painful burning did not subside. He turned towards the rustling sound that he assumed was Jool's dress and said," Jool, I don't think it worked. My hand feels on fire here."

Walking away from him to her work bench, Jool looked at the contents before her. The pain reliever had been one that worked on John previously and she had nothing stronger that would aid him right now." John, I don't think that any analgesic will work on you in your current state. You are going to have to stand the pain without any help. I am so sorry," Jool almost cried as she looked aghast at Aeryn and D'Argo where they stood on the other side of John's bed.

John's voice was shaky as he said, "I knew I was screwed from the moment Commander Cleavage told me about bodily essences. I've seen Dr. Strangelove. I know how this movie turns out. Jool, you just have to do it."

"Ok, John. Pilot, I've started up the scanner, please guide the DRD in the first cut."

John felt a tug on the band surrounding his right wrist. He felt a sharp sting on the inside of his wrist where the DRD had begun cutting with its laser. The sharp and acrid fumes of the laser made him choke. He felt dizzy and sick from the sound and smells. He held on because he knew the worse was yet to come. He heard a click that meant that the DRD had retracted its laser and was inserting a more delicate tool under the band to carefully pull each needle out from where it was lodged in a nerve. He bit down on his lip, drawing blood and balled his hand into a fist as the first needle was slowly withdrawn. Sweat ran down his forehead. Aeryn carefully wiped the moisture away from his neck, keeping a feather-light touch on his shoulder. She felt him tense with the next needle pull. His eyes rolled up in his head and he shuddered.

"John, six more to go in this wrist. Do you need a break?" Jool asked, seeing his condition.

John quickly shook his head negative and swallowed. He whispered, "Keep going."

Pilot directed the DRDs on the exact location of each needle. He noted Crichton's elevated temperature and increased tremors throughout his body. Suddenly, he signaled Moya to halt the DRD. Crichton had succumbed to the pain, and fainted. Pilot sighed, and displayed himself on the "clam shell." Joolushko, what do you want to do? The Commander has lost consciousness. Should I tell Moya to continue, or should we wait for the Commander to regain his strength? We really do not want to cause him more pain. This operation is upsetting Moya and I very much.

Aeryn looked at her lover and gently stroked his soaked head as she tried to control her own sadness at what more he had to withstand before his torment was ended. Jool, continue the procedure. The less John has to feel of this, the better."

The next six arns, the DRDs and Pilot slowly removed the needles from John's body. He never stirred during the entire time except to inhale sharply and release his breath in a large sigh. Aeryn stayed by his side the entire time.

TWO MONEN LATER:

Walking through Moya's corridor, John felt more at ease than he had felt since arriving four cycles before. He, like everyone else, could always feel Moya's gentle pulsations through the walls and floors. Now though, at times, he could almost interpret the subtle changes in her rhythm before she changed course. It had taken some adjusting to, but he had learned to block out what was basically her heartbeat. Sometimes though, John was thankful that he could hear her the way he did, especially on the nights that Aeryn had control of Command and he woke from the inevitable nightmare. He would concentrate on listening to Moya, instead of thinking of what had awoken him, and soon he found himself relaxed enough to fall back asleep.

"John?" Aeryn's voice broke him from his train of thought as he ran his hand down the wall.

"Yeah, Aeryn. I'm almost there." He responded. After he had recovered enough from the removal of the bracelets, John had convinced Aeryn to try and resume the self defense lessons she had begun when he first arrived.

Nearing the maintenance bay door, John heard Aeryn dragging the practice mat across the floor. "Honey, I'm home."

"About frelling time. You walk slower than a borik slug, you know that?" she said, just off to his left as he stepped further into the room.

Smiling, he said, "I like to make an entrance." John heard Aeryn walk towards him and take his arm, he almost laughed at the image in head at the look on her face at the moment.

"Stand here in the center." Aeryn said.

He listened for a moment as she moved a few more things off to the side of the room, "What are you doing, Aeryn?"

"I am" he heard a loud grunt, "making sure we do not hit anything. This lesson will show us where you are exactly and what direction we need to go in your training."

"So in other words" he said as Aeryn's footsteps neared him.

"Give me your best shot, Earth boy." Aeryn said close to his ear, he could hear the smile in her voice as she used one of his expressions.

"This won't be exactly a fair fight, you know. You have the lights on." John said pointedly.

"No, I will not. You can turn them off now, Pilot."

Everyone stood around the display on the clam shell as Pilot responded, "Very well, Officer Sun." The lights in the maintenance bay shut off and they soon watched as the DRDs in the room switched to night vision. They could easily make out John and Aeryn's forms in front of them. Both stood silent for a few microts, then Aeryn's hand flew upwards towards John's face, but he swiftly blocked the punch and retaliated. This went on for almost a half an arn, each matching the other move for move. Aeryn had not been able to even graze John with a disabling hit. Falling sideways to the floor, Aeryn aimed to take out John's legs, but he jumped upwards as they swept under him. As she stood, Aeryn obviously did not anticipate that John would try the same move so soon after her own had failed. Flying backward onto the floor, she missed the practice mat and hit the floor with a loud grunt.

"He actually frelling knocked her down" D'Argo said in disbelief as he heard John's voice say over the display, "Aeryn, are you all right?"

Suddenly the Command was filled with blue light, and Pilot's voice shouting, "A wormhole is appearing in front of Moya!"

Turning is surprise, D'Argo said, "Pilot, move away from it as fast as you can!"

"I can not! We are being pulled inside. Moya is doing everything she can, but it is no use!"

"We're on our way, D'Argo!" John shouted over the comm. 'How the hell did I miss it, even with the lesson going on?' he thought.

After several microts they heard, "Moya has stabilized for the moment, but unless the wormhole closes soon, we will be pulled within it." Pilot said, his voice growing frantic over the situation.

Standing close to D'Argo as they both stared out the forward view, Chiana said, "JohnIs there anyway for Moya to pull out of this."

"I have no frelling idea, Chiana. I didn't even know this was going to pop up!" he answered breathlessly as Aeryn led him to Command as rapidly as possible.

Reaching Command, Aeryn could see everyone standing around helplessly as they looked their fate in the eye. Taking John to one of the consoles, she asked him, "Can you 'do' anything?"

She watched as John tilted his head in concentration for a microt. "Pilot, let me have manual control in case we go in." Facing in Aeryn's direction, he said, "That's the best I've got."

As manual control came up for him, John heard as Pilot shouted, "The pull has strengthened, we are going inside the wormhole!"

The entire ship jerked as the wormhole enveloped them. Gripping the control, John instantly realized this one was a lot different than the last, but as he maneuvered Moya through its slick tunnels, he found himself completely energized with what he was doing. He was still useful to his friends.

Noranti watched as the figure appeared before her, his wraith-like appearance did not startle her as she had been expecting him for some time.

Bowing low, she welcomed the creature that only she could see, "I see my findings have found at last." her third-eye glowed brightly as she looked upon her progenitor.

"I am pleased to find you well." Turning around, he closed the distance between himself and the Human. "You have found him? The Blind King?"

"Yes."

The creature circled around the couple before him, his hand grazing gently against Aeryn Sun's midriff and asked, "The child born of strength and light?"

"Yes, it 'is' the prophecy fulfilled

Gazing directly into the Human and the Sebacean's eyes, he said, "Then let it begin." and vanished.

The End

The blind king with stars in his eyes, guiding the child born of strength and light. Three souls unite to build a bridge of time and peace.


End file.
